Jofrog is Knitfrog!
March 31 2006
This many projects on the needles makes progress go slowly! The good news is that when I pick one to stick with, I make some good headway on it. Finally, a second piece is done for the BamBoo cardigan! I think it needs to be just as agressively blocked as the back before seaming. Look at that crumpled mess! I'm trying for a big push on this project, but it's still a bit slow going. Do you have to prioritise your knitting to make progress too?Slow Progress is Still Progress
March 30 2006
I taught the first class, in a two class workshop, on Magic Loop Socks tonight. For it, I started yet another pair of socks! Nope, not the ones I talked about but didn't show this morning. Those were used as demonstration. This new pair I cast on for tonight and then proceeded to teach the two hour class, barely knitting a round or two. I ask the students to be finished with the leg definitely, and the heel flap preferably, by the second class. It's not quite midnight... my homework is done! Now this sock can rest until next week! Now I can go rest for the night! In the interest of full disclosure, I am knitting a child's sized sock, not an adult one... Just the same, my homework is done!Homework Done
March 29 2006
I've been dying to try out the "Grapevine" Sunshine Yarns sock yarn that I recieved for my birthday. I'd been thinking for a long time about how to use it best. I wanted to do something a bit more fun or unusual with them. I wanted to use as much of the yarn as I could, so as not to waste the beautiful stuff. Toe up it would be! I wound my yarn into two equal balls and found a pattern I loved. I started to look to decide if it could be changed to toe up without major design changes and found that it already was toe up! What a match! I'm doing the Falling Leaves socks from Knitty. So far I see vines much more than leaves, but the leaves are there if you look for them. (Which again is perfect because it is the "grapevine" colorway afterall.) I think this is a lot like those pictures where you can see either the beautiful young lady or the old hag. I always saw a sheep. No kidding. A sheep. This was before I was wool obsessed. Come on, can't you see a sheep there? In the interest of full disclosure, I have started ANOTHER sock as well! The pictures didn't come out well, so you'll have to wait to see it. There is a perfectly good excuse here though! I'm teaching a Magic Loop class tonight so I needed something to demonstrate a heel flap on and then next week to show toe shaping and grafting. I'm just doing a toddler sock so that it will go quickly. They have lots of homework between the classes, but not for me! One last bit of sock news... I won Kat's NCAA Tournament Pool and won some beautiful Opal Tiger yarn! Woo Hoo! This is the first time anyone has been able to get me interested in basketball. Thanks Kat!More Socks?!? How Can It Be?
March 27 2006
My "Maple Trellis" sweater is done! I already wore it Saturday and I just love it! This is a relatively bulky weight wool (4st/inch on a 9) but somehow ended up being a feminine sweater. It's warm, but not sweltering. It's wooly but not itchy (to me). I love it! Specs: I can see myself getting a lot of use out of this sweater. I can't wait to go back to Maple Bank Farm to show them... and pick up more yarn! I already have my next project planned for their yarn!Yeah for Purple!
The solo shot.
Lots of light, lots of shadows!
One of my favorite things is how the cabled ribbing on the bottom ruffles out. What a girly bonus!
March 24 2006
I finally had some good free time last night to knit! Woo hoo! The first in a week really. I spent the night, however, sewing together this sweater for a customer at my LYS. It's a HUGE sweater made out of Noro Kocheron. Angora, achoo! Four hours later it's all sewn together, but there are so many ends! The yarn must have been breaking for her because there are way too many ends to explain otherwise. ...and they are all over! ...in the middle of the back, in the middle of the front, in the middle of the cables! Very few are at the edges. Man is this a lot of work. Check out how big this sweater is as compared to a sweater that fits me well. ...and this woman is not big. Check out those bat wings! I hope that she's happy with the finished product. Maybe I'll knit tonight... maybe.Thursday Night
March 22 2006
First off, everyone from yesterday's post is doing well. Three sleeping babies. Two hopefully sleeping mommies. Ahhhh. How perfect! My friend's baby was a girl! Woo hoo! It's the first girl that has been born in my circle of friends and family. I just can't wait to meet her. From the pictures she is just beautiful already. Unfortunately there is another side to the circle of life. (Do circles have sides? Isn't that the point of them being circles. You know, the wedding band analogy and all...) This morning I am mourning my trusty wallet. I have loved this wallet for years and years and years. I bought it in Cape May, New Jersey summer of 1998. I've finally realized that it's tired, it needs to retire. Honestly, I realized this at least two years ago and have been searching for a wallet ever since with no luck. Enter Etsy. I described Etsy yesterday to someone as an online craft fair. I think that's a perfect way to describe it. It's like the Bizarre Bazarre online! After hours of searching through 32 pages of wallets, I finally found one that may be worthy to take the place of mine. I thought about it until bed time when I either ordered it or turned off the computer. A few days later in the mail, this came: I bought it from Allyson Hill on Etsy. It's really amazingly well crafted and came so super fast. She's got great bags too and my runner up wallet is still available. Go say hi to her and goodbye to my old friend, my wallet.The Circle of Life
Oh sad wallet, thanks for your years of service.
Well, hello new wallet made with Amy Butler fabric.
March 21 2006
The baby that will soon be the owner of the orange or green dino is on its way! I'm waiting for the older brother to wake up, so no pictures of new things today... that is unless the new baby is amazingly photogenic. :-) Tomorrow my home will be dino free. Wish the mama luck! Hey Melanie, I've been gauging your due date against this baby's. That means it's your turn next! *UPDATE* Just after I posted this I checked my email. 16 messages overnight? Spam for sure! Nope, Melanie's babies are here as well! Congratulations. I can't wait to meet them virtually and in real person!No Blogging This Morning
March 20 2006
Happy first birthday to my little nephew, and congratulations to his big brother for being a big brother for one whole year already! This is a huge thing, so how better to celebrate than with new dinos? The collection of these guys keeps growing on top of my entertainment center. See: The first two I knit are still waiting for a little person to emerge into the world and the purple and red ones are waiting for their little people to return from vacation to pick them up. Have you ever seen a dino's profile? No? Check them out here! These dinos are still lots of fun to make, but I'm bordering on dino burnout. One more has been promised, but it may have to wait a bit. The good news is that these were the "little projects" that I had to finish this weekend, so they get me one step closer to the Rebecca sweater. By the way, I'm still looking for someone that's completed that sweater. Come on blogland, help me out here!Done With Dinos
March 17 2006
Happy St.Patrick's Day! We'll be wearing our green handknits around here today. Go out and kiss someone Irish... I'm irish by marriage, pucker up!Handknit Holidays
My first project!
Mikey's green socks!
March 16 2006
The beauty of the blogging world is that before I knit almost anything, someone has been there before! It's great to see how others have modified patterns or any problems they've run into before I get there myself! I'm planning to make this next: It's "Sweater With Peplum" from Rebecca 28. It's hard to search online for others who have done Rebecca patterns because they don't have real names! Especially because this is a Rebecca pattern, and they are known to have errors, I'd love to find someone that did this before I embark on that journey! That said, if I don't, I'm still diving in. I'm going to cast on for this as soon as I finish my Maple Trellis sweater. I'll finish the Maple Trellis sweater as soon as I finish sewing together a sweater on commission. I'll finish sewing together the sweater on commission as soon as I finish Ted. I'll finish Ted as soon as I finish some other little project that will be done by this weekend. That's the plan, and I'm sticking to it!The Expertice of the Internet
March 15 2006
I ran out of yarn two rows and two ears short of finishing "Ted"! The yarn was ordered and thankfully came in quickly, but now I'm absorbed in everything else! I did take the time to sew in the zipper two nights ago though... so finishing is on its way. Zipping Up Loose Ends
ZIP is a much better sound than RIP!
March 14 2006
I blocked the back of the sweater yesterday to be sure that it would grow at least some of the FIVE INCHES that I needed it to! I've never knit with this Bam Boo yarn before and I was loving how drapey and silky smooth it was... until I put it into the water. It soaked up a ton of water and went stiff. Really stiff. I put it on my blocking towel and pulled and pulled and pulled as much as I dared to open up the lace, and then I went back to pull some more. It was so stiff that this seemed like a fine thing to do. I think it worked, don't you? I'm happy to say that its drape is returning to it as it dries and I think that it will be just fine again. So all of you thinking of knitting with Bam Boo, I'm still giving it rave reviews! Go knit away, but watch out for hungry pandas. Stiff Wood
Now 16.5" across as compared to yesterday's 12".
March 13 2006
I know, I know, no more purple... the next project will be grey or green, I promise. But for today, it's more purple! I've finished the back for the Bam Boo Cardigan! No huge feat though, it's pretty short, and the lace makes it go quickly. I anticipate that this project will be the FIRST that I block the pieces before I sew it together. Why you ask? Well, the gauge is given only in the "Fountain Lace Pattern", both unblocked and blocked. It's so tough to measure in pattern, but from what I can tell I'm on for the unblocked gauge. That said, my back measures 12" across! It should be 17"! I know lace blocks out a lot, but this much? Help out a blocking virgin here, how probable is it that this will block to specs? I AM NOT ripping it out... (unless I absolutely have to, but then it will be in time out for sure!).Fickle in Project, But Not in Color
March 9 2006
I'm two full balls into my Maple Trellis sweater! These are huge skeins, so that means that I'm done with the body, (up to the armholes), and have started a sleeve! I'd originally thought that I was going to put one repeat of the trellis pattern up the middle of each sleeve. I got a few inches in and decided this WAS NOT the way to go! R I P! Don't you agree that it had to go? I know that you can barely see the pattern in this picture, but hey, you should be happy that you got a picture at all! After it was off of the needles, and in the process of being ripped, I though "What about the blog!" and ran to get the camera. Believe me though, this motif is too big to be going up the side of an arm... maybe nice in concept, but not in practice! Many other things are taking up the bulk of my knitting time. I've only been working on this when I need a bit of a mindless project or I'm tired of other things. Good thing it's at a relatively big gauge, on relatively big needles! It's 4PM on a Thursday, and I'm done for the day. I get so little free time, so I'm going to go spend this time knitting! I hope that your evening can be equally enjoyable!1, 2, Buckle My Shoe
March 8 2006
As I mentioned the other day, I've started the Mock Croc Socks for Mike. I rarely knit patterned socks, usually I like to stick to the stockinette and let the beautiful sock yarns do their job. This one really struck me though. I downloaded it the night I saw it and bought the yarn the next day. Saturday night I cast on, I messed up the pattern a few times, due to lack of concentration, and then I knit away... Three repeats in I realized... this is a lace sock! Whoops! Maybe when the pattern said "this lace pattern is really stretchy" or "this is an easy lace pattern" I should have know that it was going to be a lacey sock. But look at the pattern picture! Does that look like a lacey sock? It looks quite manly to me! A quick conference with my knitting buds told me that lace and men's leg hair does not mix, so I nixed the lace. My solution is the "Mock Mock Croc Sock"! This pattern is a six row repeat, with row 5 being the actual pattern row, and the rest being do what you see rows. I've changed it so that on row 6, rather than knitting the YOs to create holes, I knit them tbl to close the holes I made... it may seem counterintuitive to make holes just to remove them one round later, but believe me, it's the most efficient! Check out how stretchy these socks are. The picture above was on my calf, but this is how it looks when it's relaxed on top of another pair of handmade socks for reference. Wow! Holy stretch Batman! Does anyone recognize the sock under the new one? It's Mike's Christmas Cashmere socks! I used RYC Cashsoft DK for them, and, if you were thinking of making a pair too, they are holding up BEAUTIFULLY! So, go knit some Mock Croc Socks for yourself, or Mock Mock Croc Socks for your guy. I really like this pattern as written... now I may have to knit another pair for me the right way!Mock Mock Croc Socks
March 7 2006
Have you knit with bamboo yarn yet? I've been wanting to try it out, but the swatch at my LYS was so loose and heavy that I couldn't figure out what I'd ever knit with it! Last week an opportunity to knit a whole cardigan out of the stuff fell into my lap. Perfect! I can try out the yarn, knit with it for a while, and if the finished product is too heavy for me... well, it's not for me anyways. Enter: Classic Elite Bam Boo Fountain Lace Cardigan So far I'm really enjoying the fabric the bamboo yarn produces. It has a million plys, so I had to change my needles to avoid them getting stuck and breaking, but other than that minor difficulty, it's just luscious! I passed it around Knitsmiths Sunday to have everyone feel. Pleasant surprise was the outcome! So, I ask again, have you knit with bamboo yarn yet?Pandas Love It!
March 6 2006
I finished Mike's second blue sock Saturday afternoon! It's amazing how quickly socks can be knit when some attention is put to them! It's even more obvious in the self patterning yarns. Every time I'd start I'd look at the stripe I started on, and then marvel at how far away from it I was when I checked again! Ahh, the brilliance of self striping sock yarn! ...and in the "always keep one pair of socks for Mike on the needles" category, I've started a slightly modified version of the Mock Croc Socks. It's only a few inches in, so I'll save pictures for another day. Sock Happy!Start of March With an "M"
Could I take a more boring picture of them?
The socks were already in use Sunday afternoon. Don't they look comfy?
March 3 2006
Someday I'll visit Egypt. I already know that I'm very comfortable in the land of 'da Nile! I've been knitting along on my Maple Trellis sweater whenever I have some knitting time, but don't want to be thinking much. This limited amount of time has brought me to the end of the first skein of yarn already! I've checked my stockinette gauge, but not my patterned gauge, since I knit the swatches. I'm aiming for a sweater that has a finished bust size of 36". It is so hard to measure it on the needles, and this is where Egypt comes in... I've been thinking that I should slip it onto scrap yarn and try it on, but the water is so nice in 'da Nile! Finally last night I took the plunge! Luckilly as comfortable as I am in Egypt, they like me too! Mike is going away this weekend, and I'm not working! That means lots of uninterrupted knitting time, and some nice walks with Naomi. I have some "obligation knitting" (and finishing) to do, that I'm going to try to truck through, and then it's this sweater! Lets see what I have to show for it on Monday. Enjoy your weekends, knit happy!Someday...
March 1 2006
So, trends... the world seems to like to follow trends. Clothing, weather, all about trends. Knitting, sure, we often follow trends in the way of knit-alongs. Knitting patterns though, I'm not so sure about this: It seems as if short rows are everywhere all of the sudden! ...Short row bust shaping ...Weekend Knitting's "Pi Shawl" ...that crazy curly scarf from Scarf Style ...the super cute "Petal Bib" from the One Skein book ...short row heels of course. ...and now Ted's hood. Short rows there. All I can think whenever I see a pattern with short row shaping is, huh, I couldn't have figured this out! It makes me really appreciate a pattern. Whenever I knit something and realize that it's designed SO MUCH BETTER than I could have, I really respect it. The knitted flowers from Pick Up Sticks are another awe inspiring set of designs. What inspires you? So Hip, it's Curvy
