Beauty Knits

Every time I hear a creak on the porch I jump up, wondering if it's the postman with a package for me. I'm awaiting a couple more swap packages from Selfish Knitters, but more excitingly, a big shiny shipment from KnitPicks. My first KP order in a year and a half, and my first major SEX in more than a year.

Heh heh, SEX.

Been poking at the sticks quite a lot now. Life's getting pretty stressful, so my knitting productivity has been going up. Even have a dishcloth sitting in my bag for work, in case of knitting emergency. Have three projects on the needles at the moment, though one I haven't touched in over a month and one I only cast on today. Re-cast on? This is the third time I've tried to make these fingerless gloves (Rose's Wrist Warmers) in as many years and as many yarns. I was determined to give up on the whole thing as a lost cause, but I found two balls of Lily Chin Gotham in a goth-y purple that perfectly suits the friend I'm knitting them for.

Yes, I'm knitting for someone else! Wait, okay, no longer that shocking. Just realised that I have nothing on the needles for me. A pair of socks for the wife, a lace shawl for the mother-in-law, and the fingerless gloves for the best friend. I think I need to be kicked out of the Selfish Knitters now.

The socks are coming along. Had a minor setback on the first, as my beautiful Harmony wood circ snapped. Oh, I almost cried at this:



But KP customer service is awesome and sent me a replacement ASAP. I finished the first sock on DPNs, and only had to wait a day until the replacement arrived so I could cast on the second. I know that I could do a toe-up cast-on on DPNs, but I really didn't want to. So the second one has been cast on, and now I'm gently poking at it and praying I'm not struck with SSS.

May bring them with me to parentals for Father's Day. Our gift was met with great enthusiasm and a little confusion. "Dad! We got you an mp3 player!" "Great! What's an mp3 player?"

Got to the stitch'n'bitch at Linda's for the first time in months. Getting there was beyond frustrating - apparently the bus that I thought runs by my work to the transit hub only runs that route every other day. And of course, today was not the day. Barely missed both buses, but only made it to Linda's fifteen minutes late.

It was great. I had such a good time. Delicious pizza and talking knitting. I love talking knitting. Caught up with everyone, showed off my Highland Shawl, got to pet some lovely yarn.

And then, on the bus trip home, this:



I almost cried. Those are my beautiful Harmony KnitPicks needles, and it's just in pieces. I contacted KP customer service, maybe to get a replacement. And I might try sharpening/whittling/sanding the broken needle down into a cable needle, which I still need some of. I can't stand the ones with kinks in them. I usually just end up using a DPN.

Oh the worst part is, I don't have any other needles that I can use to work on the sock in the meantime. I only had the two sets of circs (to my knowledge) and my only set of DPNs in that size were selective destroyed by the cat.

I don't know how she managed it, but of all the needles that I had either left lying around or she had dug out of their various hiding places, she only mangled five of them. All five being my only set of bamboo 2.75mm DPNs.

Generally she's pretty good about yarn and needles. She might eye the ball winder and the swift while they're going, but hasn't attacked yet. Occasionally she will try to nom on yarn as its being used, but backs off when she realises that we will only floss her fangs with it. The only yarn we have to keep out of reach is the 100% wool stuff.

Until the needle mishap, the socks were coming along nicely. I'd just started increasing at the back of the leg to accommodate for the calf. The Nightsong shawl is looking gorgeous, the handspun yarn is just coming alive on the needles. It's so buttery and earthy and pretty.

Was sent home from work today with a massive migraine, so tonight will be a quiet night in. Might work on some lace, might cast on another project. Will definitely finish organising my needles. Since the last time I updated my Rav needle inventory, I've lost some, had some eaten, and gotten a whole bunch. Whenever relatives or friends of my parents discover a stash of antique needles, they make their way to me. My favourite so far is a spindly pair of 3.25mm metal Aero needles, one is curved, and they have the old Canadian sizing on them. Want to use them for lace.

So ten months since I last blogged about knitting, and that probably has something to do with the fact that I've only finished three projects in that time. I had two more on the needles which were both frogged. It was very convenient that my last entry contained a round-up of my WIPs.

I'll probably write up a full project description of the three I finished (Highland Shawl, Mama Monkeys, and the Scotty Hat), but I don't really want to hash it out right now. I'd rather talk about what I'm working on right now!

Rainbow Cable Socks



These things are gorgeous. I've finally cracked into the ball of Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball that Caitlin bought me for my birthday a couple years ago. It's in the colourway 'Tropical Fish', which just doesn't do justice to the colours. It's a rainbow of bright, bold jewel tones. I've been looking around for a pattern that would really do them justice, and I couldn't find one. It was either too complex and would get swallowed by the colours, or too plain. But I'm making them for Rita, and Rita likes cables, so I decided to wing my own cable design on an otherwise vanilla sock.

I started off by dividing the yarn into two equal balls, which happened to start and end at the same spot on a colour repeat. I was hoping for half-calf socks, but I'm not sure. I'm just going to knit until I run out of yarn.

I started with 2.75mm needles and the magic cast-on, 36 stitches. Working toe-up, I increased to 72. During the increases, I started a four-stitch left cross cable in the middle. I cross after eight rows. Once I finished the increases, I added a three-stitch left cross cable on either side, which crosses after three rows so it's a little tighter.

I've gotten about an inch past the heel, and so far it's fitting beautifully. I'll probably have to increase in the back to accommodate for the calf, but I'll figure that out when I get to it. Rita wants to try them on every time I put them down.

Handspun Nightsong

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So I got married last summer (oh yeah, forgot to blog about that. Oops?) Anyway. I now have a wife. And a mother-in-law. The wife crochets, and the MiL knits and spins. She admires my work, especially my lace, and has been sending me yarn since then. For Christmas, she sent three skeins of her own handspun, undyed yarn - along with some dye and a wistful note that she loved this yarn but couldn't find a project for it, and that undyed it had its own kind of shimmer to it.

I would love to play with dying, getting different effects and colours. But not on this beautiful yarn. So instead, I found a pretty lace pattern - Nightsong - and I intend to send it back to her. We can both enjoy it.

She sent it in three unequal skeins, and without any information, so I used an ad-hoc niddy noddy - two clothespins taped to the table - to figure out the yardage, and a ruler to figure out the wpi. While the wpi is more in line with a sport or DK yarn, I had to go up a few needle sizes before I found one with the drape I liked. That ended up being a 6mm.

Besides those two projects, I'm still working (slowly) on my green lace cardigan and trying to decide which shawl to enter in the Bread & Honey craft fair this year. If, y'know, I ever find out when the submission deadline is. I got a bounce-back from the only email I could find on the site. They are not overly friendly towards newcomers.

LOST: Knitting mojo. Two years old. If found, please return because I'm really, really missing it.

Haven't cast on anything new in months. Haven't finished anything since Rita's rainbow shawl, and I just . . . don't really feel like it. It's getting frustrating.

But first, update on the Happiest Gay Shawl in All the World. It is happy and gay and went over amazingly. I did not run out of yarn, but it was close. I was definitely worried until I was half-way through the bind-off row. Honestly, the shawl looks amazing, but the details of the lily of the valley section is just lost in the yarn. I worked hard for those nupps, dammit.



The nupps themselves weren't as hellish as I was expecting. The first row was difficult, yes, but so are most new techniques.



This is gorgeous. It blocked out much larger than I expected it to, but I'm glad it did. There isn't much more I can say about this. The pattern was well-written and easy, other than the mildly-irritating nupps. I like the Noro for shawls more than for socks, just because of the ease of care. And I think shawls can show off the yarn to better effect - in socks, the colourways get shortened and mismatched. If I did it again, I would pick a simpler lace pattern. Evelyn Clark's patterns have their own kind of grace that I think the Noro is just too loud for.

The Selfish Knitters' KAL this month is attacking our UFOs head-on, which is exactly what I need to light a fire under my ass.

The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. So here's the round-up:

• Highland Shawl
  Pattern: Highland Triangle Shawl from Folk Shawls
  Yarn: Briggs & Little Heritage, in Blue Heather
  On the needles: A whoppin' nine and a half months
  Status: Seventeen rows left on the border, and then the knitted edging.
  
• Lace Cardi
  Pattern: Kathryn Cardigan, from the now-defunct Magknits
  Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky, in Emerald
  On the needles: Five and a half months
  Status: Two sleeves finished and about five inches of the back. Need to finish the back and collar.
  
• Mama Monkeys
  Pattern: Monkey, by Cookie A
  On Your Toes, in green-purple
  On the needles: Month and a half
  Status: One sock, and three repeats on the leg of the second done.
  
• Girlie Monkeys
  Pattern: No-Purl Monkeys, adapted from Cookie
  On Your Toes, in pink stripes
  On the needles: About a month
  Status: One pattern repeat done on the leg of one sock. Yeah, it's been languishing.
  
• Cannae Do It Hat
  Pattern: Scotty's Hat, from the new Star Trek movie
  Yarn: Cascade Eco Yarn, undyed medium brown
  On the needles: A month
  Status: One of four panels completed, second one started.

Hopefully I'll get something finished by the end of the month.

Oh, also, I'm on Twitter now. You can follow me at beautydreaming. I am v. interesting, I promise.

Holy crap it's been a long time since my last post. I have finished half of the projects mentioned last time - well, I finished the yoga mat bag and one sock, the second sock is about halfway through the leg. I've been busy busy busy, with not much time for knitting. I'm in the middle of looking for both a job (probably have something part-time starting in August) and a house (we put an offer on one today!), and over the weekend was the Bread and Honey Festival, which means a lot of volunteer work for me. But in exciting news, I entered my Shetland Triangle shawl into the craft competition - my first competition ever - and . . .



I won! I was very, very happy. The pattern is Evelyn Clark's Shetland Triangle, and the yarn is JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk (both are Ravelry links). I knit it about a year ago, it was my second lace project.

The bag, of course, turned out gorgeous. It took me about three days to finish, and apparently this means I should make and sell a whole pile of them. When I can get $200 for a yoga bag, I will make and sell a whole pile of them. Once again, the Selfish Knitter is faced by the evil forces of . . . Mom the Oblivious! My sister gets an awesome yoga bag in three days because she's my sister, not because I am a machine. Once again, I matched up the colours when I switched balls, and I'm just as proud of the result.



The only thing I'm not totally happy about is the bottom, because the instructions aren't entirely clear the way they're written, and puckered out like mad. Still, I consider this a success! After it was finished, I snuck upstairs and slipped my sister's yoga mat into the bag, and put it right back. It was very well-received.

Finished the budding lace bit of Swallowtail and into the lily of the valley section. Yes, the bit with the nupps. My first attempt was bewildering, my second attempt was bewildering, my third attempt was painful on my fingers, but I've got it now. Still annoying, and if I did this again I'd do it with beads, but not insurmountable! Here's a shot from after the budding lace was done:



I love the striping on this. I decided to snip out the dark green swathe from the ball, and it's only obvious if you knew it was supposed to be there. I am starting to worry about running out of yarn. Only time will tell.

I cast on two new projects since then, another pair of Monkey socks for my fiancee, and my dad's Father's Day gift. I thought that Father's Day was this weekend, but turns out it's next. So I didn't have to rush. I'm working on a pair of bicycle helmet ear warmers for him, because he is a psychobiker. More on them after I've finished - three hours of work and I'm almost done.

Did anyone see the season finale of SNL? New Celebrity Jeopardy! Oh man. I miss Celebrity Jeopardy. Sean Connery is love.

Today was Knitting Day in the Beautyhood. Every second Tuesday is the stitch'n'bitch at Linda's, so down I head to Port Credit. Sprinted for the bus at ten to four, arrived at Linda's at quarter after five. It's a long trip by bus, but I don't mind it. Extra knitting time! Actually got off early, before the route takes a big loop up to the GO station, and walked the last half hour - it would have taken just as long by bus, if not longer.

Bought some gorgeous Noro to make my sister a Namaste yoga mat bag - I've made the pattern before with great success. I know I probably could have knit it from stash, but nothing can beat Noro for funky, and my sister deserves funky. The yarn!



Of course I don't have the right needles. The last one I made was on 7mm DPNs, but of course I lost one. Probably going to try and get to Michael's or Wally World to pick up a new set. Vaedri said that she had looked at the new yarn at Michael's, and Linda audibly gasped. It was hilarious.

Finished the heel of Mom's Monkey socks that I cast on forever and a week ago. I'm really liking this yarn/pattern combination. Not for me, I don't really see myself wearing something like them, but for my quirky mom they should be great. And she'll finally be off my back about making her socks. You could say they're the Monkey on my back.





Inspired by Justin's gorgeous Noro Swallowtail, I decided to start my own and use up my last ball of Noro. I love love love love Noro colourways, and I actually like working with the yarn itself. Some people find it too rough, but I like it. I don't like handwashing socks, however. But somehow using it for a lace shawl never occurred to me. Dur. I'm very excited. I love knitting lace. I've missed it. Yes, both the Highland Shawl of Epic and the Monkeys are, technically, lace, but not on this scale. Evelyn Clark is in a category all her own. Heart.



Because of the rainbow pride colourway, I call it the Happiest Gay Shawl in All the World, happy and gay like you wouldn't believe.

My only mod to the Swallowtail pattern so far has been to up the needle size to 4mm, which gives me a nice lacy drape. I have four budding lace repeats of fourteen complete. The repeats are only six rows, I have it memorised already. I love lace. I've missed it.

To continue the lovefest, I love SnB. I love having a place to go, any day of the week (except Sunday and Monday) where I can just hang out, knit, and chat with people who like me. I felt like a rock star the first time I came in when I get back from school, and everyone was so excited to see me. I fell out of touch with most of my local friends, but having Linda's has just . . . helped.

Have I mentioned how much I love being back with my fibre homies? Because I really, really do. And my knitting mojo has roared back, I finished a sock in five days - that's a new record for me. It's the Kai Mei socks from Cookie A's book, and honestly, I'm not so thrilled with it. I thought that the subdued autumn colours wouldn't swamp the lace pattern. Also, it's too big - it fits loosely, and I'm afraid that it will be even looser when I start wearing them. Plus, I don't like where the lace panel ended. I think I'm going to frog. These would make nice socks for my dad.



I haven't frogged anything that's been completed, but I just don't like it all that much. And it's all about what I like, neener neener. But speaking of people who aren't as selfish as I am, Justin is my new hero. I went over to his place to hang out the other day, and he showed me how to use a drop spindle, and then gave me a couple skeins of sock yarn! Awesomeness, he has it. These are the yarns he gave me, which are Mystery Sock Yarns:





And then spinning! Okay, I'm addicted. I finished the first bit of roving that he gave me to practice on and I want to do more. Like, now. I still haven't entirely mastered drafting - either I can't get it any looser, or I rip it right in half. I think I finally got it in the last little bit. I did pick some roving up from Ruti's (why do I shop there? I walk out feeling dirty every time) but I'm trying to restrain myself until I get this little bit properly plied and skeined.

The result!



Yeah, it's pretty bad. But I am not afraid of practice. And Rita's going to coach me too, and let me use a drop spindle.

I finished it this morning sitting in front of the TV watching "A Piece of the Action", the classic Star Trek episode. Every time I watch the original series I love it more and more. There's no school like the old school.

So the weirdest thing happened today.

After the Bitch'n'Stitch at Linda's (which was awesome, I'm so happy to be back), I headed over to my sister's high school. She's in the drama program at this high school for the performing arts, and tonight was their big final event, Theatre of the Absurd. Basically small groups of students put on these strange, absurdist, artsy fifteen-minute plays all around the school, and repeat them over and over for about two and a half hours. So people buy a ticket to get in, and then just walk around the school and drop in on shows. I got there later, so I didn't have time to see everything, but I watched my sister's and the ones that some of her friends were in, and then I found a chair in a hallway and pulled out my knitting.

And people started watching me.

They'd stop and watch me knit for a while, and then check their program to figure out which show I was. I had to tell people that I wasn't part of the theatre.

Finally I packed up and went to sit in the big group of parents hanging out in the front foyer, because, really. Someone sitting around knitting should not be mistaken for absurdist theatre.

Wargh and I am terrible at keeping current. Every entry on this knitblog is tl;dr because so much happens between entries because I am fail at being regular. Or something.

Also, knitting slump.

My mojo was gone. I was between projects, just the two big things on the needles, trying to start a bunch of new ones, nothing was working. Nothing. Switched up yarn, pattern, needle sizes, needle material and nothing felt right. I was getting so frustrated. One of the Selfish Knitters suggested taking a two-week time-out from knitting. I think I would die. But I was seriously considering it if it would work.

And then, of course, Magic Linda fixed it! Well, it was actually Connie who grabbed the book off the shelf while we were talking socks. One of the things I missed the most about Ontario while I was away at school was Linda's. I like knowing it exists, y'know? Got home on Tuesday and I finally made it down to Port Credit yesterday. And it was wonderful. Just hanging out and knitting for almost four hours. But what really broke the knitting slump was the book that Connie handed me and I ended up buying: Sock Innovation, by Cookie A. I also bought two balls of Lily Chin Gotham in a pretty purple colour but it was totally on sale so it doesn't count.

I love Cookie A's designs. I love them. They're beautiful and funky and different and quirky. Unlike most knitting books, where I might want to knit a handful of patterns from it, I would make every single pair of socks in this book (and I like how most of the socks are shown in both solid and variegated yarns). But the cool part is that she actually goes through the whole process of designing and creating patterns, which I find fascinating.

So. Yes. I wanted to cast on the second I left, but because of family and fiancee I didn't get to start my new socks until this evening. I decided to start with the Kai-Mei, which are crazy popular because, duh, beautiful. I'm using the skein of Araucania Ranco that I picked up at Linda's over Christmas. It's these muted muddy tones, browns and creams and oranges. I think it's going to look gorgeous.



I am a little worried about sizing. I have very large feet and very wide legs, so I always always always have to tweak sock patterns to make them fit. In this case, I've gone up a needle size and added six stitches. Usually 72 stitches on 2.75mm will fit nicely, even a little baggy. Right now I'm knitting 72 on 2.5, so we'll see. I also tried to start the Be Mine socks from Two-at-a-Time Socks, but I think trying to adapt two-at-a-time-on-one-circ to two circs without having tried it before was a bad idea. Back to Linda's on Tuesday for a loooooong circ and will try again.

Also, I have storage! My yarn has been hanging out in resuable grocery bags, but today I was treated to some IKEEEEEEEEEEA. I love IKEA, I really do. In addition to a foldy project holder thingy, I got this beauty of a beast:



It's a bit too big for my bedroom, but I'm taking it once I move out so neener neener. The baskets are organised as follows, top to bottom:

• notions, googly eyes, elastics, ball winder, etc.
  
• UFOs and oddballs
  
• lace and DK
  
• mohair
  
• sock yarn
  
• good worsted
  
• aran
  
• bulky
  
• crappy worsted
  
• novelty yarn

I want to love it and hug it and squeeze it and call it George. Or possibly Alfred. Because it goes with Bats. Yes, I shall name it Alfred. And love it, etc. I'm glad I have a little portable project to be working on. I have a busy busy busy few weeks ahead of me. It will never end now, I know.

New knitting resolution: Socks. Socks. Lots of socks (Speaking of, has anyone seen the lace stockings pattern in the latest Vogue Knitting? Oh my God! It's gorgeous!) and updating more frequently!

Well, school is over. Seems kinda all official and junk now that I got my marks back. My last exam was a week ago, I handed in my last paper a few days before that. Pretty much everyone has packed up and left. Campus is a ghost town.

Marks, by the way - I rocked them. My highest average yet, and the two classes that I worked the hardest in and were most worried about - 90% in one and 89% in the other.

So! Knitting! ( Cut for rambling and pictures. )