Birthday Yarn! April 14, 2009

For my birthday last week I requested a skein of green yarn to knit socks.  My mom did not fail to deliver!  She bought me a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy Sock Yarn in Spring Tickle.  It’s gorgeous and I’ve already c/o for socks.  Yesterday it was between “Monkey” and “Baudelaire” by Cookie (you can find them both at Knitty).  The deciding factor?  Mostly the fact that my yarn was closer to what was required for “Monkey” than “Baudelaire”; but I am determined to have knit both in the future!

I’ve never done a twisted rib before and was worried for the first 2 rounds that I was doing it wrong; but of course as with all things it take a little while for the pattern to emerge and for you to quit doubting yourself.    Last night I only knit the cuff for sock 1 but tonight I plan on starting the lace pattern.  Pictures to come soon!

Knit Pants? November 5, 2008

My husband thinks that knit pants are just super weird.  But, in spite of that, I’ve decided to knit a pair.  Not for myself (although I found a cute pattern on Ravelry), but for my soon to be 2 year old cousin.  Since my confidence in knitting with circular needles is increasing, so are my ambitions of what I can do with them.

On Sunday I decided on the Juju pattern from Knitty, Spring 2008 issue.  After I cast on the first time, I realized that I had twisted stitches.  So I rearranged my stitches and went back to it.  After 4 rows I discovered that somewhere along the line I had picked up 2 stitches and couldn’t figure out where and had half of my knitting in perfect K2P2 ribbing and the last half in ugly disarray.  I put the project down for a few days and decided to cast on again yesterday for the pants.  8 rows into the project, I realized that I wasn’t supposed to have joined my knitting in the round ’til after row 9.  Unwilling to rip it out again, I’ve decided to pave my own way.  Especially once I read what that unjoined 8 rows was for.

The first 8 rows are unjoined so you can create a band where some elastic will be threaded through.  My first thought was that I could just pick up stitches along the top of the pants and knit those 8 rows to flip over.  But then as I was looking outside today and seeing how crappy it’s going to get, I realized that the worsted weight yarn I’m using might be kind of chilly.  So now, once I’m done knitting the pants, I am going to buy either fleece or flannel (probably flannel) and sew the fabric inside the pants to make them warmer.  When I sew the fabric in, I’ll be able to create an inside band for the elastic to be put in.  Problem solved!

Right now I have 1 1/2″ before I start the legs and I love the cable pattern on the side of the legs.  Tonight I hope to get right to the legs or start a bit into the legs and then I’ll take some progress pictures!

Not now honey, I’m counting! June 30, 2008

I guess I can also count this as a knitting confession.  But it really irritates me when my husband sees that I’m concentrating on my knitting and then proceeds to ask me a question that requires more than a grunt response.  Instead of asking “Do you want chicken or fish” he says “What do you want for dinner?”  Or he’ll saunter in and say “What’d you do today?”  More often than not he’ll ask about what my plans are or what do I think about such and such.  Really?  Come on, you know that I’m busy and probably having trouble keeping track of how many stitches I’ve knit so far, so why do you insist on conversing with me?!

I’m working on Sally the Eco Fairy (found here at Knitty) but with a few tweaks.  Originally I wanted to knit the Woodins, but it requires more dpn’s than I currently own.  So I decided to knit this doll.  But since I bought white and brown yarn yesterday and don’t want to buy yet another skein of yarn, I’m knitting the doll brown and will use crazy yarn my MIL gave me for hair and instead of knitting clothes, I think I will sew some for her.  If all turns out well, I will knit one for my cousin’s birthday around Christmas.

Well, in knitting the head, I discovered that attempting to knit in the round with a stuffed head is difficult.  Everything turned out okay, but it took me a bit to gather my senses about it.  I plan on knitting the doll in parts.  Obviously you have to knit her in parts, but I’m going to try and do only one part/day.  That way I don’t burn myself out.  There’s nothing worse to me than having to leave my knitting on dpn’s.  I always come back confused about where I was and what I was doing.  The head is all finished so I think I will knit the ears and maybe the hair and call it a day.