Just like I said October 31, 2008

picture time!

I used the Plymouth Yarn that my hubby bought me in Seattle to make “Global Warming”. It was a very fast knit and turned out lovely. As you can see I omitted the kangaroo pockets. I like the pockets, but after I tried on this part of the sweater, I preferred it the way it is, so therefore my decision to not add pockets! Having knitted two sweaters, I am mostly over my fear of circular needles.

Then these two lovely pictures are of the Textured Tunic I found in “Fitted Knits”. Looooove the buttons that my son and I picked out to use. It’s not that itchy when I wear a tank/cami underneath it and that doesn’t make it too warm either. I wore it out and about last Friday and nothing terrible happened, so I feel confident wearing it in more public places. Plus when I sewed on the buttons, I gave myself a little insurance with some weaved in yarn through the flaps.

I love my hobby October 29, 2008

I love how relaxing it is to sit down in the afternoon, turn on some tunes (or podcasts) and slip into the ease and joy of knitting.  Hearing my needles softly clicking together as I deftly maneuver my needle through each stitch and pull the yarn through is musical.  But what I love most about knitting, is once you reach the point where your project is beginning to look like what you are knitting.  I admit that a lot of times I’ll only be a few repeats into my pattern and think “Wow, this looks ugly and nothing at all like the picture”.  But persevere I must and after a few more repeats, it finally looks just like the picture.

I’m a little more than halfway done with my Global Warming sweater.  Yesterday I knit up to where the sleeves will be added.  One thing I noticed is that the pattern calls for the yarn to be doubled up.  Which obviously I didn’t.  I remember thinking about it and then wondering if doubling the yarn would make it too thick and therefore too warm.  If it’s too warm, I won’t wear it.  I get warm pretty easily and plan to wear this s/s sweater with a long sleeve tee under it.  So with where I’m at and with how much I have to left to go, I know that I won’t be using all 11 skeins of yarn my husband bought me.  In fact, I’ve only used 2 so far and am just dipping into my 3rd.

What I’m thinking is that after I’m done with this sweater, I will see how many skeins I have left and either knit a duplicate sweater for someone (they’d have to fit into a xs/s) or knit the gorgeous tube top in the “Fitted Knits” book.  Lastly, I was thinking of knitting up a sweet sweater for my little cousin Fiona, whose birthday is in December.  So many decisions. 

Hopefully I’ll finish my sweater tonight and will be able to take pictures of both of my sweaters tomorrow.

One last thing I have to think about is what projects I will want to start so when my friend and I go to the cities, I’ll know what I’m looking for.  Because I was definitely going to buy some sock yarn and then hopefully get some yarn for a specific project.  My trip is coming up quick (just a couple weeks!) and I also have to chart out our stops on a map so I don’t get lost.  One thing I’m a little nervous about is that there’s a Yarn Hop to the same stores the weekend before we are going, and I’m hoping that they don’t sell out of all the good stuff before we get there!

They call me….. October 24, 2008

…quick stitch McGraw.  Okay, not really.  But this past week my mom has been staying with me and I have to giggle at the fact that I’ve already knit a pair of mittens and flew through several rounds of my pointelle shawl while she’s c/o, crocheted, rippped out and c/o again, crocheted, ripped out, and so on and so forth at least 5 times this week.

It all started Monday when I called to remind her that she should bring some knitting/crocheting because of the ladies who come to my house and knit.  So Tuesday night she wanted to get busy reintroducing herself to a project that had been gathering dust for a little bit.  This set off the chain of events that leads us to the several afghan froggings.  But as I type, she’s busily working on Stashaholics Brain Dead Afghan except instead of the purple/raspberry colors, she’s using green tones.  I really hope that she has better luck with making this one work; I’m sure she will, but I’m no help as I don’t crochet.

What else is cool is I signed my mom up for an invitation to Ravelry and told her to head straight to Boucle’ next week and inquire as to a knitting group or some help relearning to knit.  Whether or not she does this, I’m not sure, but I hope she does.  Some of the stuff she made back when she was really into it is super amazing.  In her house there’s this huuuuuge (and it is ginormous) tan colored knit blanket.  It is super thick and miles long and amazing.  Anyhow, I know that she’d have a blast connecting with other knitters much like I have!

So my hubby’s coming home Saturday and he’s brought me a little gift from a yarn store in Seattle!  I can’t wait to see what exactly he got me and then to start knitting up my second sweater!  It’s funny that the first item you make when you’re learning to do something (use circular needles, make clothing, etc….) can make you so nervous.  Then after you’re done, you feel like you can conquer the world!  Maybe it’s just me, but I am ready to take on some more knitting challenges!

Sweet October 20, 2008

I have officially finished my sweater in its entirety.  There are buttons, there are seams, it is ready to wear.  I’m very proud of myself with this particular project because I encountered a handful of problems and did not break down in tears and rip the whole thing apart.

Yesterday I was so excited to knit up the sleeves and be done.  In my excitement, I didn’t take the time to see if 24 sts would be big enough to fit my arm through.  So I just kept on knitting and at the end (luckily only at the end of one sleeve), I tried it on and discovered that while I could squeeze my arm INTO the sweater, it was not so easy to squeeze it back out.  Instead of ripping out the sleeve I was frustrated with, which I had already had to rip back in the beginning due to the decreases not fitting into the box st I was trying to do; I started on the other sleeve and simply did not do any decreases.  That worked out SO much better and it gave me the confidence to nip the other sleeve in the bud and start over.

Today my son helped me pick out some buttons to sew onto the sweater.  I picked a bigger funky button to decorate the shoulder that’s open and then use simple white pearly buttons for the side.  After it was all said and done, I am in love with it.  I was thinking about wearing it today, but decided to wait and show it off to my knitting group on Friday night.

I love the internet October 16, 2008

Last night I reached the part in my pattern where it told me to follow the chart starting with round 2.  I sat there all night scratching my head and thinking ‘which pattern makes sense?’  The logical part told me that of course it meant the pattern on pg. 105, but there were 11 sts to that pattern and I couldn’t wrap my head around where 11 stitches would come into play.  I sat and looked on other blogs and referenced the errata from the author and was at a standstill.  Today I began anew and something caught my eye that didn’t catch it last night.

THANK YOU internet!  It answered my question and made me less worried that I was knitting the sweater wrong.  Now my only problem is that somehow my seed stitch tends to end up looking like ribbing.  I don’t even know how that happens as I (try I guess) am careful to do k1, p1 on the knit side and then do p1, k1 on the purl side.  Not only does that sometimes end up weird, but my two sides use different repeats of k1, p1.  The first 5 stitches are done in P1, K1, then the next set of 5 are K1, P1.  I think this explains why I sometimes end up with ribbing.  Hm.

But other than that, things are going awesome.  Yay!

Helper Kitty! October 15, 2008

My cat Teo loves to curl up in my lap while I’m knitting (or doing anything else that leaves my lap open).  Usually I can’t find a good way to photograph him without it looking crappy, but this was a good shot.

These are the socks I finished up over the weekend away. Like I’ve said before, the cable pattern itself gets kind of tricky, but the cables turn out so beautiful.

And lastly here is where I’m at after 1 skein of yarn on my sweater.  Since I took this picture, I’m 8″ into the body with two more to do before the side slit begins.  Yay!

I defy you circular needles! October 13, 2008

Okay, so I haven’t gotten over my anxiety of using circular needles from the *very* beginning, but my sweater is going along smoothly as far as knitting with circular needles.  My issues are all user related.  At the moment I’ve already put my sleeve sts onto holders and will be working on the body.  The point where I actually joined my work looks awesome and I can’t wait to see how my sweater keeps progressing!

The yarn I chose is from Prairie Yarns (Cascade 220) and is a gorgeous dark green, like a deep green.  It has been lovely to work with and the needles, I must admit, were kind of annoying to use at first, but now that I’ve been working with them for hours on end, they’re great!  They are bamboo needles which felt slippery at first, but now I’ve gotten used to them (and am further along in my work) to where I don’t even notice that.  Later today I’ll try and remember to take pictures of my WIP plus photos to showcase my socks that I finished this weekend!

I am not allowed October 12, 2008

…..to go into a yarn store unsupervised ever again.  Yesterday we did a surprise trip to the in-laws.  Since we were going, I wanted to pick up some yarn and circular needles so I could start knitting a simple crewneck sweater.  At Barnes & Noble last night I didn’t find a single knitting book that caught my interest (okay, didn’t catch my interest at $25+).  So I decided to just buy yarn and a needle and have a go at it.  Fate decided that wasn’t to be so today. 

I ended up choosing this gorgeous green yarn (I really wanted the buttercup yellow, but had a few reservations about me wearing that particular color) and picked up a pair of size 7 needles.  The ladies asked if I had a pattern and I said no.  They seemed shocked and said “Oh, well you will need a pattern, it will help you determine what you need!”  I was too nice to say “No thank you, I’m just going to hammer it out on my own” and ended up spending $70 on a book, my yarn and size 10 needles.  Not only that, but my son and husband spent a wonderful hour hanging out in the car while I did so.

Despite my mega spending there, I love all the sweaters in the book.  So it wasn’t a complete waste.  I picked a sweater that is labeled as medium difficulty and am excited to c/o for it.    My hubby told me that he is going to accompany me the next time I go in so I’m not gone for hours on end.  Plus, he said that when I go to Mpls, I’m going to need $1000 to dedicate to my yarn addiction.  I told him in rebuttal that at least I buy yarn that I plan on using, not just to have pretty yarn.

Sewn Helper October 10, 2008

For the past week or so I’ve been looking for something to store my needles and accessories in and carry around in my knit bag.  A lot of the things I encountered seem too big for what I need.    Our fabric store in town got a few bolts of fabric in by Eric Carle (you know, The Very Hungry Caterpillar guy?) that I think is just gorgeous.  The only problem is that it’s $8.79/yard.  Yep, per yard.  I’ve been thinking of what I could justify spending that kind of money on, and it occurred to me.  With half a yard, I could make my own bag to store my needles and things in!  This morning we went in and bought half a yard of this fun polka dot fabric and while the little guy was napping I sewed it up quick.  Here’s the result(s):

It folds together great and fits perfectly in my bag!  I’m so excited to have this now and hopefully won’t have to worry about my needles falling out and getting away from me!

Gathering inspiration from Victoria’s Secret October 9, 2008

I got the ‘Winter Casual’ catalogue from VS today and I am in LOVE with the sweaters.  Luckily for me, being a knitter, that means I can sit here and say “Hey, instead of paying $100 for that, I could *knit it* for half the price!”  But then again, being still a relatively new knitter, I can also say “Hey, that means I need to learn to knit with circular needles and work with constructing my own sweater!”  As you can see, I have lots of inner dialogue to work with

So far I really like this crewneck sweater that has 3 buttons on the left shoulder.  It looks really comfy and so sweet.  And while it doesn’t seem terribly sensible, I think the Crochet Turtleneck on the back is just adorable.  Although instead of wearing a sexy Ipex bra under it, I’m sure a long sleeved t would be warmer.  I’m also beginning to think that I will invest in some turtleneck sweaters.  They are warm and look super cozy in the pictures.

As you may or may not know, I picked up a Vogue Knitting book from the library and started writing down notes on how to put together a sweater of my own creation.  I’ve already started on some preliminary things, but am thinking I might look for a program to install on my computer.  If there’s an easier way to do the math, I’m totally taking it.  But the book has some good insights on what works best for certain types of sweaters (like how to do armhole shaping, shoulder shaping, etc.) and I don’t think I could get that from a program.

Now that it’s cooler outside, I want to start getting into the sweater making business so I can stay warm at home!