ecstatic and traveling

i finished Ginny's Hex Vest today! i need to finish weaving in the ends and block the knit portion. It's actually looser than i expected, and has a deeper neckline than i envisioned, but overall i am very happy with the end result. Now i am planning to knit Christmas presents for Aunt Polly, Abby, Dad, and possibly Uncle Earl and Zac. Dad's present will be like Daniel's, only with the left over green fisherman's wool (and if i run out of that, i'll knit the rest up with the brown fisherman's wool i just got in the mail today for the asymmetrical wrap sweater).

i'm going on a cruise in less than two weeks and am currently trying to decide what knitting to bring along. i think i'm going to leave the computer at home and make it a knitting retreat! i think i'll take the remainder of the Christmas present projects (at least, those i don't finish before the cruise), and sock yarn if that fails. There is actually a good chance that i can get a couple of Christmas presents done before we leave for the Mediterranean. Of course, i do have some school work to get done, but overall i'm very optimistic.

yet another dye day... squared

So, once i found the lemon-lime Kool-Aid, and wrestled my yarn into large loops secured with scrap yarn, i set about in dyeing bogey-colored yarn.



First i soaked the yarn in the same large pot as last time: i think that i had more length with the lemon yarn that i dyed orange, but this yarn is definitely thicker, and filled the pot to about 2/3 instead of 1/3. Next i emptied the Kool-Aid into an empty bowl and filled that bowl with water, stirring to dissolve the powder completely before pouring it over the yarn.

+ =

i heated the yarn, but it didn't even get anywhere near a boil before all the Kool-Aid was gone from the water. After steaming it for about 20 mins i let it cool, eventually draining the yarn and hanging it to drip dry. i liked the progress i had seen in the midst of the heating:



Unfortunately, though the yarn floating nearer the top of the pot turned out beautifully (albeit a little darker than i envisioned in the middle of the dyeing process), the yarn on the bottom... didn't.



Whole spans of yarn with no dye at all, and blotches of a decidedly blue-green hue. i was of course a little upset, but relieved that this did not happen in my last project, with more expensive yarn. If need be, i could always buy more yarn (i've found it online for even cheaper than i paid for it at work), but i decided it would be cheaper to buy more Kool-Aid, dye it again, and just live with the mistake. Now i know to not dye so much yarn at a time. i bought four more packets today, and dyed again, and the color seems to have come out well (no pictures yet, it's still drying), thought just a hair darker than the other skein, and of course with no hope of fixing the blue-green bits. i'm not sure yet how hard it will be to work around this error.

wha???

Read some blog the other day, can't remember where, in which a woman said something along the lines of "Oh, my daughters and I love to crochet, except for one of my daughters who prefers to knit because it's more time consuming." And of course i was like, "Wha...??????" i haven't been a slow knitter in well over a decade, and am even faster now that i've made the switch to continental. Crocheting is more time consuming (for me) because i crochet less than i knit and have to think about it more, and i have to constantly watch what i'm doing (if i'm knitting stockinette i don't have to be too focused on my hands really, i can watch tv or whatever. i knew i had arrived as a knitter when i was knitting in the round in a dark theater while watching Underworld 2, and no, i do not use glowing acrylic needles). Knitting is not slow any more than crocheting is, it merely depends on one's amount of experience. This weekend i knitted two hats; they both took me 3-5 hours once i worked out the kinks of learning a new pattern and figuring out what to do when i ran short on yarn (they never mention that in the project books that laud knitting with leftover yarn...). As a result i made a beanie instead of a beret and a two-colored hat instead of a solid one, but it all worked out, and rather quickly (i will admit that i was getting rather tired of the k2, p2 ribbing on the second project, however). Anyways, back to the point: enjoy the craft you love, realize that it takes time to master a new one, but eventually crocheting and knitting are both rather like riding a bike: once you know how, your fingers always remember the way.

Overall, i feel that the art of knitting is a rather misunderstood pastime. i am so sick of people giving me dirty looks when i bring my knitting along to class or church. Please understand, that if i feel comfortable enough to knit in front of you, it is a compliment. Knitting gives me a heightened sense of awareness: i retain lectures better and notice more details (which is saying something, as i am pretty observant on my own as a rule). i am great at multitasking, but knitting focuses me enough to not let me be distracted, allowing me to give more of my attention to what is at hand (well, rather, what is not in hand, but being discussed, taught, etc.). Just because someone doesn't know how to knit does not mean that one should look down on me because i can!

It disturbs me how we have fallen away from the idea of never having idle hands and always contributing to society, the war effort, etc., to become a culture that is threatened by the fact that i can create something with merely a ball of yarn and two (three, four, five) needles. i didn't know that i was going to be making some sort of statement every time i picked up the needles when i taught myself how to knit from a book nearly fifteen years ago. If i have to, i'll continue to make that statement, because i fully intend to continue knitting for the rest of my life, and i hope to be knitting more in the future. i'm already working on another hat and fully intend to start crocheting the hex vest this week, too.

End of rant. (;

bitter lemon-limes

After looking at at least five grocery stores, i have finally found some lemon-lime Kool-aid. The bad news is that i neglected to write down how many ounces of yarn that i'm going to be dyeing, and only bought eight packets (when there is 16 ounces of yarn). So, the question is, do i buy more? Perhaps dilute the green with the leftover yellow and orange that i have left over from dyeing Tangy Giselle? i'm undecided. i think that i will probably be using what i have and then adapting to fit my needs as i am actually doing the dyeing. i do not want the colors to be too bright or too diluted, either. i'm not exactly sure what color i'm going for here, just something greenish, but not blech (like the $200 handbag that my US Lit professor bragged about getting a good deal on last semester). i'm definitely going for a bogey color (hex!), but i want it to be pretty, too.... Does that make any sense???

The bitter part of this post is that i am trying to figure out a good way to unwind this yarn and i have managed to get it royally tangled in the process. i'm almost finished untangling it now, but it's taken me over an hour. The board game box was too small, the ironing board kept collapsing, but the empty laundry basket turned upside down seems to be doing the trick.

dreaming of yarn...

i cannot believe that i forgot to bring my knitting with me today (i'm in the middle of Liberty Cap 2.0, and World Geography is the perfect opportunity to get the needles clicking). The weather is cool and rainy today, and as such i have knitting on the brain (along with the cruise i am taking in two months, but that is entirely beside the point: that is on the brain because we finally got our plane tickets today). i am really restraining myself, not allowing myself to run down to Tangle (Mountain Biking was canceled due to the weather, so i have a little extra time on my hands today) and check out the yarn that i am thinking of buying for the Hex Vest or simply buying it online (i haven't even seen this yarn in person or touched it, mind you, but i am itching to start this project, nay, multiple projects). i still haven't had the time to take photos of my yoga bag or dye it. My life is so busy and full of stressful requirements. Maybe after the first mod is over (which means the yoga class will be over, and by then, what's the point?).

On a cruise related note, i found two pairs of pants at Goodwill, one pair brown and like new, the other pair pink and from Old Navy. What on earth was i thinking? Well, basically, what the heck, it's four bucks, and i can dye them. i have no idea if i can actually dye this type of fabric, but it doesn't really hurt to try, as no one in town has the appropriate pants (well, Old Navy does, but i'm not willing to pay $30 a pair for them), and Hi Fashion Fabrics does not have the fabric i'm looking for, either. i broke down and bought some batik for a blouse (i shouldn't have looked!). i have very low willpower lately.

still knitting

As usual, i cannot believe that it has been so long since i posted. Since my last post i have finished the Fair Ginny sweater (save for the zipper), finished my Bible cover (well... kinda, it's turned out to be a flop, and i'm not sure what i'm going to do to fix it), crocheted several sample granny squares for Ginny's Hex vest, and worked a bit more on Tangy Giselle. That's about all, at the moment, except for the fact that i bought fabric to sew passport covers, need to work on the Ohm bag, and also want to dye a white shirt my grandma got me at a thrift store, because i'm sure there's no way i would be able to keep it white. School is less than a month away now, and the chances for a new pc and camera are on the horizon as well... my laptop is about to give out and i want to have a new digital camera for the cruise i'm going on in November.

knitting... slow

So the project i am making the most progress on is Tangy Giselle. i've set aside the sleeve stitches and am nearly to the end of the second ball (which equals 40% of the project if i use all the yarn). i discovered a mistake from a long time ago where i knit 7 sts on a purl row (or purled 7 sts on a knit row) and there is no way that i am fixing it. Taking it out as a ladder would probably destroy the tension / gauge, if not tangle the yarn. Taking it out all the way, even a stitch at a time, is most likely impossible (not to mention extremely inconvenient and time consuming). i can live with such a small mistake, and--let's face it--no one will probably ever notice. It might even be hidden by the hood whenever it's down (which, let's face it, is probably going to be most of the time).

In other project news... haven't gotten any more work done on the Boing socks, did two more rows on Fair Ginny, and am planning to knit a Bible cover now (possibly using ribbon as part of the design). i still haven't bought the size 4 needles for the yoga bag and runner's companion.

i hope to upload some update photos soon. It's getting late, i need to sleep. Luckily i can knit in three of my classes, and can get 3-7 rows done in each one if i put my mind to it. i'm not sure if i'll work on Giselle's sleeves next or continue with the main body of the project. Hmmm.../yawn.

slow progress

First off, a Knitty article that i think i've read before, Knitting Yourself Together, about the meditative quality of knitting.

Second off, i have cast on Tangy Giselle and Fair Ginny, as i am now calling my two sweater projects. i am about a third of a way through the hood of the wrap, which i last worked on last Friday during the We Surround Them meetup as Bassett Furniture. As for Ginny, i've knit 5 rows in stockinette and am going to attempt to knit backwards for the purl rows... except maybe for the colorwork.

Spring break was heinous, it was worse than a normal school week is, and just as i had thought to myself "i know my schedule is crazy but it's just enough for me to handle." Stupid, stupid Kristi! Don't you know that when you say dumb stuff like that God throws you a curveball? Now my manager wants me to work during school and scheduled me for five days last week, just when daylight savings and my allergies hit simultaneously. It now seems that i need a new job if i'm going to be able to pass my classes this semester.

woot, the wool is on the way!

i just got an e-mail letting me know that my yarn for the Ginny Cardigan is finally on its way. The Pistachio was on back order, so i had to wait for them to get more in, and i kind of assumed it would take another week or two, so i'm really excited and wondering how long it will take to get here. The nice thing about this project is that, even though i paid a lot for this yarn, there will most likely be left overs on the contrast colors that i can use to make Christmas presents.

The bad part is that now i need to buy some more circulars and dpns because i don't have any in size 10 1/2 (as the pattern calls for). i know that you can't knit a cardigan in the round, but i also know that i refuse to do any seaming, so i will be knitting the back and fronts simultaneously. i'll have to wait until my next paycheck for that. i'll also buy one of these i think (my Harry Potter scarf needs it, if nothing else). i'm dreaming of a swift and a spindle, but don't know if they're currently in my budget.

i meant to post photos of the finished yarn yesterday afternoon, and i took several shots outside, and even wound the first loop length into a ball, only managing to get it tangled into an irreparable knot at the very end (losing less than a yard of yarn in the process). But even before i accomplished all of that, when i first got home, Mom wanted me to refresh her memory on how to knit, and Sammy couldn't remember how to cast on, so i spent more than an hour doing that and then i had to get ready for work. Anyways, i'm starving, and need to pick up the spinning books i reserved from the library. i'll post photos later.

yum

Bought the Kool-Aid today, i think i got more than enough if my conversion from grams to ounces was correct. Today i ordered Crystal Palace Kid Merino in Lemon Sherbet (that's a horrible photo, but this is the yarn i hope to dye light orange for the wrap sweater) and 10 skeins of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky for the Ginny GoF cardigan. Were i going for colors as close to the movie as possible i would have used Khaki for the MC, but i chose to use Pistachio instead. For the CCs i’m using Orchid Thistle, Wild Mustard, and Rust. it was hard to pick which shades of the yellow / gold and orange to pick, but the Orchid was always my favorite shade of purple. i also ordered a skein of the Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Ink Blue for a Liberty Cap. i can hardly wait for the yarn to arrive!

still dreaming of knitting... and dying too!

No, not committing suicide or going to Heaven through natural means (though i did have an interesting conversation last night with a guildee about the end times and how to become a Christian), but learning how to dye my yarn. This is actually something i have wanted to learn how to do for a long time, whether it be yarn or fabric that i would be dying. i love batik fabrics and it can be a bit of a challenge to find the colors i want for projects. This is especially true of the yarn i want to use for that wrap sweater.

From the beginning, i knew that i wanted the yarn to be fuzzy. That was clear from the photo in Fit Pregnancy that inspired the sweater, that it was soft fuzzy yarn knit with needles a couple of sizes too big so that it is semi-lacy. The closest yarn i could find for a long time was Rowan Kidsilk Haze, which is a challenge to use (i crocheted a hat with it once), and unfortunately expensive. So for the past few days i have been scouring the internet for a cheaper substitute (or any substitute, for that matter) in the color i want. See, in the photo the sweater was a dark orange, kind of on the red side, but in my head i have always seen this sweater as more of a yellow orange: not peach, not gold, not yellow, not orange red, not rust, not red orange, but a light orange that's on the yellow side.

Well i haven't been able to find that color anywhere. So my mind started turning to dying the yarn myself, but i have no idea how to do that! It sounds complicated! What if i buy a bunch of expensive yarn and it still doesn't turn out the color i want?!? But today i stumbled upon KoolAid dying: one apparently mixes the KoolAid to be the color he or she wants, microwaves or simmers the yarn in the said mix, and when all the color has gone out of the water rinses and dry and voila you're done. Sounds easy enough, and it isn't toxic!

Well i found a cheaper yarn substitute finally, after Googling and searching for way too long (i could be lvling an alt or doing homework for crying out loud!). i found Crystal Palace Kid Merino and i eventually found a website where it's on sale and found another color or the yarn that i'm going to be hard pressed passing up (look at the Cocoa Blues at the top of that first page). i was originally planning on buying the Natural, but now i think i'm going to go with Lemon Sherbet because i read on one website that the artifical fibers and cotton don't dye as well (if at all) and that you can also dye pastels and light colors to good effect (hey, maybe i could put some of Grandma's old yarn to use after all...). Crystal Palace is cheaper than Rowan because it uses Nylon instead of Silk; so i might have a bit of lemon in my sweater, too, but that's okay, i want my yarn to be more yellow than pink or red anyway, and it doesn't have to be solid all the way through, i kind of like the hand dyed look after all (lol), i just don't want the yarn to be obviously variegated like Red Heart brand is. ):

In conclusion, i got my mitten yarn today, which is nice and soft, but not quite as turquoise as i was expecting. It's a nice enough blue, but is more on the cornflower side of the spectrum. When i ordered this yarn i almost picked the charcoal grey, now i wonder if i made the right choice (at any rate, it's too late to change my mind now, they are sold out of just about all of the colors now, and don't plan to carry it any longer it seems). Anyways, here's hoping that i get some more knitting done next week, and some of my dream buys will come to fruition. (: i think if i buy the yarn for these sweaters that i will be set when it comes to yarn for quite a while to come. Plus, the leftovers from the Ginny Cardigan will make good Christmas presents.

ETA: i guess that the proper spelling is dyeing... oops.

knitting on the brain

So no sooner do i say that i don't need a digital camera because i have a cell phone than i have to update the software on my phone because it won't charge and suddenly i can't download photos from my camera any more. So i need to figure out a new way to get that photo off that i promised you last post and i really don't want to text it to my e-mail account but we'll see.

i finished my first sock last night while listening to homework and cast on to the second during lunch today. Earlier this week i ordered the Hauk yarn in color 5943 for my mittens off the internet and used my gift certificate at the local yarn store to buy more sock yarn (in oranges 145 and blues 1606) and cable needles. i am really tempted to buy some Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky for Stitch 'N Bitch's Fairly Easy Fair Isle in colors like Ginny's cardigan (from GoF i believe) as well as that lacy wrap sweater that i've been wanting to knit for forever (the trouble is that i can't find the yarn in the light orange shade i want).

i think that it's safe to say that i'm obsessing about knitting a lot this week.

Oh, i also bought some fabric paints and stencils to decorate some thrift store pillowcases that i'm turning into shopping / book bags. Next i need to buy some straps (i'm thinking about using ribbon) and the cuffs that i've been meaning to put onto my blue zipup hoodie for a while now. Oh, i'm thinking about making stitch markers too and selling some on my Etsy store, and ordering the yarn to knit a blue Liberty Cap. Hmm i'm creative lately, the trouble is finding time to follow through on my ideas.

update

sigh...

Well, i've completed knitting projects for two Christmas presents, and bought some yarn for additional projects, but haven't started them. It seems like so many of my projects don't turn out the way i expect them to or age prematurely. My PoA scarf looks horrid, probably because i washed it in the machine and wore it every day and the yarn was hand wash only, and the scarf really wasn't wide enough or long enough in the first place. My messenger bag never got truly finished, it turned out that i didn't purchase quite enough fabric, and the flap was too short, which didn't stop me from using the bag every day... and a seam needs to be repaired as a result, but i don't even know where i stashed the bag, it probably needs to be washed, too. i've never found a pattern that would work for the Fox beanie visor. The crocheted newsboy cap from Knit 1 has never looked right on me, and i'm not happy with the visor on it. My swimsuit/coverup project has been a complete fiasco. i haven't taken the time to sew all the projects i've cut out. My digital camera's screen is totally messed up now for no explicable reason. It's all very discouraging. i must get some more projects done but i'm not sure that i can take failure right now...

PoA scarf: finished!

I just finished putting on the fringe. I think i might add more, but for all intents and purposes the project is finally done. (: I didn't get my GoF cloak done, but i will be wearing my school uniform costume to the movie tonight (or, as the theater's recording says, "at 12:01 am, a special advance viewing"). I have a little leftover yarn that i'm considering using for a hat (not sure it will be enough) or a head scarf/headband like the one my sister made. Not sure what my next HP related project will be, yet, maybe a hat like the twins' or Ron's in PoA.

Happy Harry Potter Day!

i wore my PoA inspired skirt today (along with a white shirt and marroon tie) and was pleased with the response i got (no one could tell that i sewed the skirt myself). i didn't get my scarf done (i just hit the 3/4's mark), but i worked on it during certain classes (per usual), something which really cracked up my Women's Chorus professor (i was knitting during warmups and "wearing the scarf at the same time"). My next project is going to be to finish the GoF cloak i've been working on, after that i haven't decided.

my PoA scarf

I'm halfway through! I wish i could post a picture, but i can't. It's not going to be as long as i wanted but i don't have the money to buy more yarn. I'm so short that it probably wouldn't be wise to make it the same length as in the movies, anyway. I mean, i may be 5'5", but Dan, Rupert, and Tom are all around 6' tall now, right?

Harry Potter Day costumes (gasp)

I've got two new projects! I'm sewing two pleated skirts, one for Harry Potter Day, the other possibly for the Harvest Fest at our church the night before. Work on my GoF cloak will resume soon, and i plan to sew one skirt (a charcoal with subtle burgundy stripes that are perfect) to wear with the cloak (to the premiere of GoF as well) and the other is a turquoise and orange polyester plaid that i'm considering wearing to the Harvest Fest clad as Kitty from That '70's Show. Pics will hopefully be forthcoming.

update (finally!)

We've been a bit busy with a new baby in the home. I've finally found the chance to upload some new stuff that i was working on before the birth day event. Dealing with computer problems: more to (hopefully) come soon with pictures.

ETA: This post originally contained links to my webpage, but those pages no long exist as i have moved all meaningful content to this blog or my Ravelry projects.