FO, FO, ORG, THUMPERS
Are you sitting down?
Knitting content!
Not only that, but actual living, breathing, FOs!!!
And, please, say a few prayers for my Pentax camera's batteries. They have taken ill and despite being defibrillated several times, they are lying near death in the charger but it's not looking good (hence I did not get to photograph the MOST IMPORTANT THING!!! but I will get batteries when I'm out tomorrow and rectify that right away... note to self, photograph most important things first, just in case).
First up—
Waving Lace Socks (from
Favorite Socks) in Lorna's Laces
Gold Hill colorway. They grew a bit in the soaking. I hope they still fit. I have small feet and nary the courage to try them on just yet. For now, I'm admiring their beauty.
Next, we have
Embossed Leaves (also from
Favorite Socks—I LOVE THIS BOOK!) in Araucania Ranco (yarn details on
Ravelry, apologies to those who aren't yet Ravelers). This yarn... amazing. Gorgeous. Easy to knit with. I don't know what it does when washed yet—hopefully they stay true to size. If not, I have another cake of a brown colorway. I consider them done. The toe needs kitchnered (not the method on the pattern but my preference) and the ends woven, but they are done enough to show here. More pix on my Flicker
Socks page.
This is the one submission I managed to get for the Biggest Bunny Thumpers Contest over at KitKatKnits' blog. This is Tyler's foot. Zander (not pictured) is the Biggest of All Possible Cats around here but the danged battery on my camera keeps throwing a hissy fit and pretending like it's depleted of all energy when it was clearly just reloaded with fresh powerful batteries five minutes earlier. Zander's BT is a good 5.25 inches long.
Tyler, who is the second largest of my herd of five, measured in at a measly 4.5 inches or so. Hard to tell, he moved and he is very grumbly about having his feet touched.
As evident by the look he's giving me in this photo. And that's not even his evil look. You should see the Kill The Vacuum Cleaner Look.
Translation: either "I CAN HAZ UR FACE FOR MAH DINNER?" or "U TOUCHA DA FOOT I EATA UR FACE". Take your pick.
And finally, there has been earnest progress on the organization front. You'll find (if interested) a new set of updated photos on my Flickr account (just click the pix, it'll take you there).
Labels: 30-Day Org, boring household crap, cats, FOs, sockaholism
Relocation Complete
OK, this part is for anyone who is interested in continuing to read about my personal dramas. If so, please email me at jrberry63 AT woh DOT rr DOT com to receive URL and password info.
The rest of you, keep watching for knitting content. I promise there will be some. In fact, I'm happy to report that there was plenty of knitting this weekend. I worked on the 2006 Christmas Scarves (yes, that's not a typo), the Nancy Bush Traveller's Socks, and the Waving Lace Socks.
I finished Sock #1 of Waving Lace. Ends woven in, toe kitchenered. All I gots ta do is wash and block. Oh, and knit Sock #2.
As for the Travellers, I noticed a big gauge discrepancy between them and the Waving Laces. The Wavings were knit on size #1 Crystal Palace DPNs. The Travellers were cast on to size #0 Addis. The Travellers were at least 2 inches wider than the Wavings, which actually fit.
I decided to swatch (OMG, stop the presses) AND (sit down) wash/block the swatches.
It appears that I need to do these on size #000. Or whatever those teensy tiny blue Susan Bates hypodermic needle-type DPNs are that I scavenged from my needle stash.
Good grief.
In other news, Friday afternoon was lovely, and I finally spent some time playing with my horse. I even rode around bareback for awhile. It was good.
Labels: breaking news, FOs, the big secret, WIP, Xmas
Ravelutionary
Yes, by God,
Ravelry is the most amazing invention this year. I call it "Ravelutionary". (Maybe they'll use that on a t-shirt.) I'm looking forward to watching it grow and develop. To those of you still awaiting your invite, and especially to those who are poo-pooing it for whatever reason ("only for the elite few/exclusive club" is one comment I've heard), I can only say, it is TOTALLY WORTH the wait, it is beyond amazing when you get there, and everyone who wants to get in
will get in.
Ravelry is a fantastic organizational tool, networking spot, and it's fun. It links everything! Your blog, your projects, your stash, your needles & hooks, your friends.... it's like one big knitstravaganza! Dare I say that I nearly had a knitgasm over it?
I realize I've been lack at posting photos. That will change as I begin to flash the stash and UFOs for Ravelry uploading. Right now, I almost have an FO. Yes! Me! An actual Finished Object! Almost. Michael's had some Caron Simply Soft Shadow—yes, I know, sue me it's Ack-crylic—on clearance (
now you see why?) for $2.00 per skein (
could I pass that up?) and I bought several since Sister would like a pair of WARM socks for Christmas and they can't be wool (
she's allergic) and it can't be cotton (
I hate knitting it) and they need to be able to survive the Maytag (
handwash? dry clean only? what?). Therefore:
{[(Warm - wool ≠ cotton = acrylic) + xmas] + (affordable + washable)} = worsted weight acrylic on clearanceSince I've conquered the two circs method and the DPN cuff-down method (3, 4, and 5 needle variants) and am comfortable with the standard gusset heel, it was time to try Toe-up.
Interweave Knits Summer 2007 has a great article on how to do Toe-ups using a short-row heel (two birds dead there), so I did a quick swatch to confirm my suspicion that I used #4s with the Code 4 Medium (aka worsted weight yarn) last time, then I began.
DANG these are knitting up fast! I "got" the Eastern Cast On right away and the short row heel wasn't any big deal at all (and I don't know why so many have issues with it, to be honest). It's great to try it on along the way, and the Tables for every junction along the way enabled me to make adjustments for a perfect fit. I'm almost finished with the cuff on Sock #1. I only cast on two days ago. That's fast for me (with all the other stuff going on).
I think I'm heading to Michael's to stock up. For this pair, I went with the
Caron's Simply Soft Shadows 0006 Dark Moss, but the color on the website is way off. It's a gorgeous emerald green that has been plied intermittently with a teal blue, a buttercup yellow, and a hot pink. It's really nice Ack. The other two colors I picked up were the
0007 Mardi Grey (pretty close on the website) and the
Opal Twist (it's black, not brown). I'd have to see them IRL, but I think I like the
0004 Autumn and the
0002 Plum Mist if they're close to the photos.
Yarn diet? What diet? Oh wait. That's right. Sock yarn doesn't count. No wonder I've been knitting Nothing But Socks this year—to justify buying more yarn while on a yarn diet! I am truly evil, being able to pull that over myself.
OK, back to the knitting...
Labels: FOs, ravelry, yarn diet
Mutha Effing O
I finally have one. I must get pictures. This morning, at 6:30 AM, after an all-night weaving marathon, I FINALLY finished the nine (million) yards of fabric for my weaving class from last semester.
Of course, by "finish" I meant get the damn dog off the loom.
Next, I must weave in the broken warp thread (fun), fix the loom mangle spots, then wash it out. About the loom mangle—nasty thing! Not MY loom, the school's—it tried to eat my fabric at the very beginning when the little hooky jobby that holds the heddle thingy on the first harness came undone from the harness and hooked into my cloth just like a fishhook into a Big Mouth Bass. I was weaving along, and began to notice some resistance when I tried to advance the cloth. Oh, I was almost sick about it when I saw it. Another weaver came to inspect after hearing my moan of agony. She turned green and had to look away while I surgically removed the cloth from the hook. Then I rehooked the harness and taped the sucker down. It would not have happened except for some reason every time I tried to advance, all eight harnesses moved forward with the cloth.
That loom gave me so much trouble. One harness came unhooked and tilted and tried to have the heddles fall off in the middle of weaving. One treadle kept disconnecting itself from some of the harnesses when I stepped on it, which altered the pattern (more tape—that thing is duct-taped from castle to floor now). But I made it out alive. Sore, achey, with a neck migraine, but alive. The loom mangle is in the weft, but fairly easy to fix by tugging on the selvedge threads. The selvedges aren't critical because I'll be whacking up the fabric to make a coat.
This is the biggest lesson learned: when planning a woven project to be done within two weeks' time, do
not decide to make a blazer/coat with a hem that hits below the knee; do
not decide you'll need nine yards long by 45" wide of carefully-placed warp stripes; and do
not, under ANY circumstances, choose a wool crepe yarn that could pass for stiff embroidery floss (20 wpi but turns out to be more like 24 wpi) in its thickness. Then, do
not weave a dense 50-50 eight-harness meandering twill. Because it will take forever when you can only weave 12 inches per hour. Nine yards. Twenty-seven hours. In three-hour stints because that's about as long as one can stand to do that before the pain sets in.
Oh, the fabric is lovely. The pattern is subtle and the stripes pop.
Rolled up, it weighs about the same as an area rug.
I can't
wait to see how heavy it is when it's wet.
Labels: FOs
Un-Hijacking
That's right. I'm un-hijacking my own blog. This is supposedly a knitting blog. Where is the knitting? Oh. Between my brows. Well, that has to stop. It's time to redirect my focus.
Focus.
HAHA.
I mean, that last post? Totally OT. Some of my visitors may be turned off when I go all introspective (some, like me, love it when bloggers veer off into the hinterlands of the brain). I will attempt to please everyone *wink* by killing two birds with one stone.
I set up a new WordPress blog. This allows me to:
- test out WordPress
- put the focus in this blog back on knitting, and move the major revelations to its own blog.
So. The new blog is
Mental Manifestation ("it's all just...") <--what song am I paraphrasing?
This blog will continue to exist, but we'll get back to fibery goodness here. I hope you'll include the new one in your blogrolls if you're interested in the inner workings of my mind, my newfound possible ADD issue, and my experiences with the Law of Attraction in Action. Otherwise, over here we're getting back to our
knitting content.
I sat outside in the beautiful weather this evening and finished a sock today. But I can't show it to you because it's a test knitting of someone else's pattern. I can say that the pattern and yarn initially gave me fits, but the yarn surprised me because it held up after frogging not once, not twice, but probably five times before I "got it". The finished sock is quite lovely. When the pattern goes public and I have permission to, I'll lead you to it.
Still working on the Christmas socks. Last year's. I don't know what I'm going to do this year. Perhaps hand-dyed or woven? OMG. It's JUNE. I learned my lesson last year.
Time to start working on Christmas 2007.
Labels: breaking news, Christmas knitting, FOs
More Sewing FO's
The circular needle case is finished! Three down, one tote to go. I may not make my self-imposed deadline (tomorrow night's SnB), but that's OK. It's only me and my friend anyway. But I'm 3/4ths of the way there.
How matchy-matchy of me! LOL!
Closed...
Open! (Remember the MadTV skit with the nail salon owner? "close... sad... open!... happy!... close... OPEN!)
Velcro Tab (ZZ Top comes to mind for some reason):
Wow. Momentous occasion. A post in which I do not ramble on for hours on end.
Labels: FOs, sewing
Just For Me
Well, I did it. I did something JUST for me.
A couple of months ago, while searching for a suitable pattern upon which to base my woven jacket, I found the most adorable pattern for a roll-up knitting needle case and a circular case (and tote, etc.):
photo from Butterick.comI spent a good two hours looking at fabric until I found some great 70's inspired cotton fabric in the discount aisle. It's orange and hot pink and lime green and white. One motif is circles and dots; the other is a hippie floral. I just finished the roll-up case. It's tied with this great ribbon I found that is lime green stitched on the sides in hot pink. I'm so psyched. On board is the circular case. Same fabric, with a third contrast fabric for the pockets in solid lime green.
The only thing that frustrates me is that the top part of the roll-up (and most roll-ups) is too short for my big Crystal Palace DPNs, and I don't want to stuff them in with their longer straight counterparts in the lower section. So I'm thinking of making a pattern based off the roll-up to make a shorter DPN roll-up. IF I can still find the fabric. (Probably can.) Heck, I might even make the tote (although I saw a pattern for one I liked better in another catalog).
It felt SO GOOD to sew something up for fun!
Remind me if I forget to take daylight photos and post.
Labels: FOs
Finished Object!
News Flash: I won the lottery.
OK, it was only $3, but hey, it's still a win. I got one number (3) plus the Mega Ball (29) in last night's MegaMillions game. Since I've been hitting at least one number consistently for the past few weeks (winning nothing but a warm fuzzy feeling), I can only assume this is the sign that I'm on the right track... keep playing, and one of these days, I'll hit all five plus the Mega Ball.
Anyway.
The REAL News Flash is:
I have a FINISHED OBJECT of a massive kind.Feast your eyes on this! (Ignore the black shadow in the corner please)*
If you're interested in seeing the process unfold, I've made a
slideshow of the images (embedding it didn't work).
I tried to document as much of it as I could. But as I only had two hands and no helpers, I satisfied myself with photos of the stages, not every bolt. The harnesses with the 800 heddles had to be built from the ground up. They did not come that way. They came in a bundle of 800 heddles (on strings, thank God), steel harness rods, steel harness frames, wooden pieces, screws, screw eyes, etc. The only pre-assembled items were the wheel block and the cloth and warp beams (the rolling ones). Absolutely every piece of this thing was assembled one piece, one screw, one bolt, one nut, one swear word at a time by moi.
Note: Whomever said, "Oh, it'll only take you about four hours to assemble it once you're done sanding and oiling" is WRONG WRONG WRONG. Try four DAYS. I'm pretty sure if it took mere hours for them, it was because (as they conveniently forgot) they had a team of people working on the loom all at once. Assembly line. Yeah.
Was I frustrated at times?
You bet.
Do I feel like I got run over by a Mac Truck because my muscles are so sore from sanding, oiling and rubbing a gazillion wooden parts?
Yessss... ow.Was I overcome with the fumes from the mineral spirit/oil solution?
...huh? What? You say sumthin', man?... (Apparently that's an affirmative).
Were there times when I thought perhaps I was in over my head?
Sure.
Did I ever think of giving up?
Not on your life!!!
Am I prouder than heck of myself for my triumph?
You bet!
* Dummy here finally figured out why so many photos have an odd shadow in them. It's because dummy here got her fingers in the way of the flash! AUUGGGHHH!!!
Labels: FOs, loom
