Tam Tam..

So my project monogamy has failed... I have cast on this...  An Irish Aran Tam made knit with a fisherman's wool my grandmother brought back from Scotland 30+ years ago. I made her a sweater for her birthday last year with this same yarn, and the Tam is to go with it for Mother's Day. I do not have pictures of the sweater and when I do get them I will tell you the story of the commissioning and accomplishing of said sweater. But that is a story for another day. I am enjoying the Tam ( pattern found at Ravelry) but fear it will be put aside as once I reach row 24 I will need to switch to a set of dpns which I am sorely lacking. I have none, any any size and find that I need them desperately if I am to branch out of my sweater scarf and shawl world and start making socks and cute baby booties and what-nots that require the tiniest of needles, pointed at both ends and flocking in packs of 4-5.  Meanwhile, the Cardi continues... Front, back, and full fold out RS facing respectively. I have really enjoyed this pattern though it took so finagling to figure it out around the neck shaping for the right and left sides. But I think I got it now. I am on sleeve1 and praying once it is done I will not be hit with SSS (Second Sleeve Syndrome) and be able to finish this is in a timely manner. At least before the child it's intended for out grows it. There is still the sleev and a half to finish then the collar the making up and the blocking though I am not entirely sure which to do first the making or the blocking. The pattern can be found at here the Knit Jacket & Hat. I am still trying to figure out how to work the pics and text layout on this here bloggin' thingie.. Hopefully I will have it figured soon. TTFN

Cardi Party...

Just wanted to slap up a short up date on the project I have going now. Though I am driving away the inclinations to cast on a ne wproject as I only have one going right now, I am still really loving this current project.

In other news the 5th skein of sunset came! I will be finishing the Fan Shawl shortly! Yeah for free yarn.

Also if you haven't yet or already have find me at Ravelry. Evening!!

Cabled Obsessions....

I have started a new project. I cast it on the night before last having gone through my meager stash, scouring the internet for the perfect pattern once I decided what yarn to work with. Of course this pattern had to be easy enough for me to understand on my own, had to be close to the right kind of yarn I wanted to work with and of course the materials required had to be in my notions. Thankfully after hours of searching I found the perfect pattern. An inspiring set of stitches, not to complicated that I would want to run screaming into the night and I found that even when I hit a snag in the wording of the instructions I only had to reread it 15 times before it finally clicked. Good thing I had decided to read ahead before I got to this spot or I might have been brought to tears. (Note to self, knitting late at night brings it's own challenges not the least of which is decreases in cognitive abilities!)

So after casting on, knitting for two hours late at night and one full day of knitting ( not that I was actullay able to knit more then maybe an hour or three the whole day!) this is what I have so far...

See the cables! I love cables!! This is my first time ever knitting them, using a cable needle and everything! And love it!! I have been dying to try cableing forever now and when I saw the pattern called for them I just flipped. I even showed my DH the first cabled twist where dutifully said 'That's interesting,' then last night I ran into the kitchen while he was fixing dinner (that's right, he cooks occasionally and is very very good at it ;) ) and showed him how they looked as they twisted up the worked piece. This time I got a rather enthusiastic 'That's really cool looking!' He is so good. Ha!
I LOVE CABLES!

For the Love of Yarn....

Okay.... you see the little pink squiggly bit of yarn above the needles? That's the last of the yarn dangling there. And guess where I am in the border... That's right half way through row 5. How many rows in the border again, you ask? That's right...5. In garter stitch. Nothing fancy, just knitting endlessly for 5 rows. So I need yarn for one half of a row and a bind off. Maybe 5 yards, 10? And as we covered in the previous post, if I were to aquire a new skein of puke pink sunset yarn, that would be another 170 or so yards of puke pink sunset yarn left over... Crap.

Well I sent off the last of the labels I had for the Caron Yarn Giveaway and one can only hope that I receive one more skein of puke pink sunset. What I am going to do with the left over yarn I haven't a clue. Suggestions? I need a new project. I need more yarn. Much more yarn. I wonder if I could get a job at the local yarn store and take payment in yarn, needles, and notions....

To Knit Or Not To Knit....

So a short post to day. An update on the fan shawl.

I finished the last half module with a sigh of relief last night. The top of each half module (8 in all) ends in 10 stitches that you put on a 'string' to use as a stitch holder.  then with right side facing, you start on the right edge of the right module and pick and knit 14 stitches, then the 10, then 14 more, giving you 38 across the top of each half module. YEAH RIGHT! Considering there were 19 rows to the half module, deciding where to pick up 14 on either side of those lovely 10 just hanging out there, is enough to cause one to chuck this pile of puke pink crap and it's poorly written pattern in the road and dance and cackle with glee as every speedy car hits it over and over for its impudence and thwarty, non sunset colors. so after fighting with the first module's unrulyness I simply picked up what stitches I thought looked appropriate, plus the blasted 10 just laughing at me by this point, and merrily knit along the row until I had pick up the whole at least half the shawl. Then I looked at my needle and had a strange thought. Mind you it was about 11pm at this point and I was working by the light of my tv and laptop ( don't ask why I didn't just get up and turn on a light) when it struck me that I wouldn't be able to get however many 38 x 8 should have been and knowing there were way more stitches then that, onto my size 6 straight needle. Wait, size 6. $%#@!!!! Stupid damn, non sunset colored shawl. Of course the pattern clearly calls for a size 5 CIRCULAR needle by this point. Forehead smacking, cursing and fist shaking moment over, I camly pull out the wonderful Boye Needlemaster I swiped from my mom for the foreseeable future, put together the size 5 and since it was a circular I wsa able to save myself from frogging the whole thing and slipped the stitches onto the correct needle and worked to the end. Then I turned the thing over and knit the first row of 5 for the garter stitch border, threw it down in disgust for the night and watched Sanctuary, the Kail episode. That's rigth I like SciFi, all SciFi, I have seen Ice Pirates ( I dare you to google that one) and liked it.
      I am sure that you can see how little of the fourth skein I have left. I am filled with trepidation at the thought that I will need to aquire a fifth skein to complete the four rows and bind off that I have left of this shawl. I am sure that with there being 185yds per skein I will be left with over 150yds of puke pink sunset yarn. Yay... Next will have pics of the after block puke pink pile of crap which will if all things go right appear like a lovely Sunset Fan Shawl.

For Those Less Fortunate

I would like to take a moment for those who have been devastated by yesterday's earthquake in Haiti. Latest reports this evening put the casualty toll near half a million, with hundreds of thousands of others missing homeless and separated from their loved ones and billions in damage in an already economically poor nation. The Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and other foundations including a group of local Beaverton Missionaries who were in Port au Prince when disaster struck, are set up to provide relief in every kind of troubled time and are accepting donations of many kinds, from money, to medicine, volunteers, food, clothing and much more. If you can find it in your heart to give any amount of aid to one of these organizations or find a way to give in your own community, things like this could go miles in the direction of people doing good to people for the right reasons.

As my personal knitting hero The Yarn Harlot lays it out here far more eloquently then I ever could, go give, get good karma!. She is also the founder of Knitters Without Borders, done so with the aid of a family member who works for MSF or Doctors Without Borders (link provided above) in response to the tsunami disaster on December 26th 2004. She asks (and I totally agree) that any donations made to MSF or DWB be made to their emergency funds of general relief funds so that it can be applied where it is most needed. More info can be had at the links I have provided above.

I know this seems like a rushed post slapped together with other peoples links but I am merely trying to spread the word as best I can. Pleasepleaseplease, I know that times are super tough and everyone is struggling but if all you can provide is a prayer for those people who are suffering, be it in Haiti or Darfur or Downtown it will go a long way.

Eventually I will think of a way to make this into a button link to the TSF/KWB FAQ page!

Ode to the Yarn Harlot...

"If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action. -Douglas Admas


People knit for their own reasons, but some of the most intense knitters I know are ones who used it to help them quit smoking. It's a perfect plan, really; knitting keeps your hands busy, and its relaxing and repetitive enough to hold off most of the urges to smoke. you get to spend your cigarette money on yarn, a powerful motivator, and two weeks after you quit you have four sweaters, three hats, and several really big afghans.  


Knitting can be a useful tool for self-improvement."


The above is an exerpt from At Knits End: Meditation for Women Who Knit Too Much (link from amazon for conveince purposes) Page 280, written by my personal knitting hero, The Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. (If you see this Ms. Harlot, please note I hope I have made all the appropriate linkage back to you and where your most worthy credit is do :) ) I stumbled across this book while at the library looking for (yes you guessed it) knitting books I haven't read yet. I have a profile over at GoodReads and when I enetered this book into my read shelf I discovered a clip of The Yarn Harlot having been here in NW Oregon and since I was hooked I followed links provided and stumbled (again) across her most esteemed blog (link provided above) I have been to the library again for what ever they have of hers available and am diligently working my way through her past arcives to catch up to her most recent adventures.

Besides spreading the word of the Great Yarn Harlot, the reason for which I share this with you is that of all the wonderful quotes, observations and amusing stories in that fun little book, the one above struck me the most as it hit VERY close to home for me. (Also I really love that line from Hitchhiker's Guide)

It was a typical, mid November night in AZ, 2002. I was visiting my folks for 2 weeks and while there I got the bright idea I would quit smoking. Yeah I know, stuck with the rents for 2 weeks over the holidays in the middle of the freaking desert a hundred miles from nowhere ain't bad enough. Bring on the misery. I had come prepared with a bag of watermelon jolly ranchers but a few days in with no cigarettes and I was ready to crawl the walls. But I was committed, I wanted to quit! I went to my mom and said, "I need something for my hands to do!" My mouth was busy working through the bag of hard candy but my hands were empty and fidgeting. She was working on a crochet blanket for my brother so she suggested that I give that a try. Crochet? Really? There isn't anything I hate more than crochet! I am a tight knitter so imagine how taught my crochet comes out. Very bad stuff. She handed my some yarn, a pair of size 11 boye knitting needles and proceeded to teach me the very simple ripple pattern. After only a few rows I was hooked and at the end of the two weeks I was smoke free!

I didn't quite finish that balnket (partly since my mom wouldn't let me have the needles) so I bought my own yarn and notions and while still able to remember the pattern I knit up my own ripple afghan. Needless to say I fell in love with knitting and find now that I am completely obsessed with it. While I am still learning (everything it seems like) I find I can't get enough info, patterns, tips, techniques, magazines, books, ect. Thank you Yarn Harlot for being who you are and reminding me I am not the only one! I promise once I catch up in the archives I will post a comment/email on your wonderful and most helpful blog!

Busy Busy...

So here is the Fan Shawl so far...

I haven't had much time to work on it the last few days. Needless to say I will be casting on #21 of the fan modules tonight.
   For those wanting to know more about the yarn I am using, it is Caron's Country in Sunset. Country is a  25% Merino Wool, 75% Microdenier acrylic blend multi-ply that is smooth and soft if a little bit splity. Now while Sunset neither reminds me of a sunset nor is a color I would have chosen, Country does come in 23 other yummy colors. How did I come by this yarn, you ask? Well check this out. I actually came across this while surfing my Facebook page. I just happened to have the labels they asked for and received 4 skeins all in Sunset. I actually found labels for one more skein that I sent off Tuesday so we'll see what color comes next :). Course now I hope it's the Sunset since I think I need one more skein.

I finished up and delivered the Basket Weave Baby Blanket for my friend G's soon to be born baby girl (she is trying to get here a lot soon then her mama is ready for :) ). While visiting with G, I snapped a picture of both the new baby's blankie and her big sister's as well.

New baby's Basket Weave..

and Big Sis' Warm Bundle


 I love knitting baby blankets, I have 2 more I need to finish the edges on. Afghans are a fave of mine as well, my first project was a Ripple Afghan. But that is a story for another day.....

Desperation...

 Since the battery on my camera decided to exhaust itself while taking photos tonight (yes it's the camera's fault not mine for not charging it) I don't have any update pics for tonights post. Let's just say while I was starting module 7 of 28 I am now on #15. So there is progress.

In other news...

I have reached a point of desperation I am sure all knitters at some point must face. It can't just be me. I have knit several projects over the years. I have worked with numerous types of yarn in different shaped skeins. I have worked with said yarn by pulling from the outside strand and by the end inside the skein, however it came from the manufacturer. I have even work from a rather round ball that rolls across the floor when i tug it for more slack. The only time I have ever worked on a set yardage of yarn that even remotely cooperated, it was the 50% wool 50% camel, it had been wound I am assuming by a swift and ball winder combo, I am not eniterly sure. All I know is that it pull from the middle and stayed in one shape without tangles until it was used up. I loved this skein. I need a winder. I have no idea what the diference between:

This...

and this... 

All I know is that I need a ball winder/swift, thingie that will give me a better workable skein, one that pulls gracefully from the middle, with no clogs or twists or flippin' knots of any kind! Desperate I tell you! I need a winder thingie now!!!!

And the Fans Go Wild...

I am still learning to use my camera indoors. All my outdoor shots always come out really fantastic but my indoor, lets just say florescent and incandescent lighting bite the big one in aesthetics. So without further ado, here is the Fan Shawl...

6 modules done so far and the seventh on the needle. My DH kindly went to the redbox  this evening to aquire a copy of District 9 ( at his suggestion) despite the fact he refused to take me to see it in the theater because it's 'just not his kind of movie'. Hopefully I will be able to multi task and work some more on the shawl tonight. Also I am thinking of starting up a scarf/hat combo from him despite his adamant refusal to even considering wearing anything other then his barely fitting black store bought beanie hat. Hmph.

I thought I would also add a pic and discription of one of the most frustrating projects I have ever accomplished in my knitting career. But first a little background.....

When my Aunt J found out that I am a knitter she asked if I would take some yarn of her mother's and knit up a sweater. While the story of that sweater  is a gas in itself, sadly I have no pics as of yet so it will have to be for another time. Once said sweater was done however she asked that I take an old poncho pattern grandma had used back in the day to knit up ponchos for her girls and make one for my cousin, J's daughter. The pattern called for 5 skiens of Icelandic Lopi for all sizes and once we settled on a size I took my aunt to a local yarn shop to find something that suited her tastes. She found this skein of 50% wool 50% camel hair with variegated colors that was absolutely beautiful. I got home and cast on immediately. Day and a half later I had the front and a back for the poncho done and ready to make up but when I held them up to measure on myself I was distraught.

 Now I have been told by SEVERAL people that I am a 'tight' knitter but I always assumed that it meant my stitches always came out even and precise and I used less yarn that way. OH NO! Was I wrong. I had been deluding myself that my tight knitting was just a style and would have no effect on the actual pattern I was working other then to give uniformity and a distinct beauty to the stitching. My cousin is 32 about 5' 9", I would say she is a size 8. The poncho I held up would have fit an 8 year old. I had knit it so tightly no amount of blocking would have stretched it to the proper size without warping the whole construct. On the advice of both my mother and my brother, I frogged the whole thing. Needless to say I found out that tight knitting also uses more yarn which would explain why I had to buy a second 540yd skein of yarn to finish the 'tiny' poncho when I should have only needed the one. Hmm. That was round one.

Round 2: I cast on again using one size bigger needles and a MUCH looser hand, too loose even. 2 days and a night of blocking later I had a poncho to fit a giant. I know! What was I thinking!?! As you can guess, I frogged again.

Round 3: I cast on using size needles pattern calls for, I still knit loosely but not overly so, 2 days later I have a front and back that when pinned together before blocking fits me. I sigh in relief and proceed to block, something I really have no experience at and am flying blind on in the advice department. SO I take the poncho (front and back) loving to the tub and gently place it in luke warm water, saturating it throughly and then pinned it down on the flat sheet now dubbed the blocking sheet. Next day it is dry and I sew it together, try it on and have a minor panic attack at how much bigger it got. Here comes the fun part...

My bright idea is to wet it gently and pop it in the dryer for a few minutes (I can almost hear the collective gasp from the knitting community at large as I am typing this). I go to the dryer to pull it out and can you guess what I found? A perfectly sized poncho!!! That is half way to being felted! Yep that's right I felted the damn thing. Ruined the beautiful stitching, the wonderful color variations, it is completely fuzzed together! I called my mom and had a break down. She offered to come over and in the time it took her to drive over I threw the damn poncho back in the tub again to try and salvage, at this point I have no idea what I was trying to do. My mother, being the wonderfully supportive person that she is said it was still beautiful if a little different then what I had intended. She helped me to repin it down and then told me forcefully to leave it alone until it dried. Which I did. The next morning I pulled it off the blocking sheet and lo and behold the poncho from hell was the softest fuzziest lovelyest thing I have ever created. It really looked as though I had meant for the poor abused yarn to felt itself into a fit. The neckline was right the length was perfect and it fit just right. I couldn't beleive my luck. I sewed the fringe on, Thanking the knitting gods with every tassle and folded it away in it's gift bag. When my cousin opened it her eyes gleamed and she said it was absolutley the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Now whether this was genuine appreciation or cousinly love, I will never no but it made me grin ear to ear none the less. I will let you decide...

I cropped out her face since I don't have her permission to plaster pics of her all over the web, but you get the idea :)

New Year Projects

Happy New Year!!!!

Last night while waiting for midnight with my DH, I cast on this:

The pattern is a shawl done in fan shaped modules and came from my bestest buddy, G. She found it at the Crystal Palace Yarns site. It is confusing at first but she was able to help me wrap my dyslexic brain around it, as she has been fighting with it on her own for a few weeks now. The yarn I am using is called Sunset though it looks like some sort of wild salmon color in the pic and is actually more coral in real life. I like it because unlike the darker yarns I can actually see the stitches while knitting in the dark watching TV ( which my DH can not understand how I can possibly not be straining my eyes and brain to do). I am hoping to have a significant portion of this shawl done before the end of the weekend ( or I run out of yarn, which ever comes first).

I am super proud of the baby blanket I have finished for my darling friend G's second daughter, who will be born soon but hopefully will wait until her due date to make her debut. I had knit a lavender blanket for her first born and am also planning matching cat eared hats for both girls if I can get my hands on the notions. The blanket is done in a double stranded basket weave stitch and in a goergous yellow but my camera doesn't like flourecent lighting sets so I am gonna have to start coming up with better pic stagin before I post much more of my work.

Oh and I also made these today:

YUM!