Month: March 2006

Posted in Sewing

Yeah, I sew.

Posted on by mslindz

Okay… so I don’t just knit! I can sew too :o)

I wanted to post because I’m excited I finally have my sewing machine set up (temporarily in the living room, but it will have to be moved somewhere else soon).

It’s an old Singer. At least as old as me (24), maybe even older. It used to belong to my Great Grandmother who passed away when I was about 5 or 6. The table goes with it and actually sets into it so it’s level with the rest of the table which I think is really the best feature and the reason I will always do my best to keep it running well. The table suffered a lot of damage before I learned how to sew. My mom used to set glasses on it all the time which caused a lot of damage to the top of the table. Underneath there are some marker scribbles and I will guess that one of my sisters did that. It’s been moved from the west coast to the east coast. It’s survived more moves than I can even reasonably count. I’ve been seeing a lot of crafty projects that are sewing related and I’m actually quite anxious to get back into sewing again. It’s much more economical to make a dress or skirt myself than to buy it… plus, then I know it will actually fit me properly!

And the thing I’m MOST excited about?? I’m part of the Spring Bag Swap on Craftster.org! This is my first swap on there and I’m thrilled about it. Laying in bed last night I was thinking about the bag I’ll be making and I’ve got a good idea of what I want to do. As per the usual as of late, when I don’t already know a pattern I want to make, I dream one up. I think this one will be really neat and I can’t wait to get to the fabric and yarn store this weekend so I can start work on it really soon!

Okay… back to work I go!

Posted in Knit Ramblings

On Folly and Stash

Posted on by mslindz

Folly is progressing.

I completed the back last night and did the bind off for one of the front pieces that I thought was done, but really wasn’t. Tonight I will start on the second front piece which should take no time at all considering the first one took no time at all to do. When it comest to knitting, I’m pretty quick. The yarn just flies through my fingers. The only issue with this sweater is that it’s made from acrylic, which hurts my fingers after a while. I can only knit it for a small amount of time before I need to take a break from it. Thankfully I always have more than one project on the needles at any given time, so I have been working on my Jaywalkers in-between working on Folly (aka That Damn Sweater). At the rate I’m going, I should have it done before April 10th (mom’s birthday), which is my goal. Thankfully, my mom doesn’t read (or know) about this blog, so she’s got no idea I’m even working on this!

~~~~

The last two days I’ve been listening to the podcast Knit Wit: Rantings of a Rabid Knitter from Autumn Breeze. This morning on my way to work, she was talking about stash.

She told a story of a woman who was in a yarn shop yearning for yarn and talking about how she can no longer afford yarn at all. She had been forced into early retirement and though she’d made good money before and could afford yarn, she would only buy enough for one project at a time since she didn’t have a lot of free time and it would take her years to complete a project. She never had a stash for this reason – even though she could afford it. But now that she’s retired and has nothing but time she can’t afford to buy any yarn to knit with.

Maybe stash isn’t such a bad thing after all. I buy yarn here and there. I know that come the end of this year, we’ll be moving. This may mean I have to leave whatever job I have and not have money to buy yarn for a while – months even. Not to mention I’ll have a lot of time on my hands for a while, if I have no job. Though I do spend most of my paycheck paying off bills so that (hopefully) when the time comes I will only have my car and insurance to pay for (Well, if I have no job and my savings isn’t built enough, Nick will have to carry me and I don’t want to sink into a bad financial state), I manage to buy yarn here and there, keeping this upcoming fate in mind. It’s my “just in case” state of mind that I tend to live by.

Okay, that’s all for now – must do that thing they call work!

Posted in Current Projects, Knit Ramblings

Jawalker Woes

Posted on by mslindz

Last night I had about 5 inches done on the leg of the first Jaywalker sock when I tried it on and realized that it was a bit too tight. I checked my gauge and somehow I was WAY off. I don’t know HOW it happened, but somehow between making a gauge swatch and starting the socks, my gauge went from spot on to no where close. Knowing that I wouldn’t wear the socks if they were too tight and thus would be a waste of beautiful yarn and a lot of work, I ripped back to the ribbing.

I did the ribbing on US 1’s and I do like the way it came out. It’s the first ribbing I really like how it came out, so why rip out a good thing? I kept the ribbing and switched to US 2’s for the rest of the sock. I’m hoping this will make them loose enough, but we’ll see. I’ve already decided I’ll do the ribbing on the second sock on US 1’s as well so that the socks will match.

I went from 5 inches to just over an inch last night. Of course this saddens me, but knowing I wouldn’t be happy with it, I couldn’t make myself keep working on it. It should be a lot speedier on US 2’s anyhow.

You’ll notice that my progress bar off to the right side of the page —>
for my Jawalkers have gone from 15% to 5% today since I ripped out nearly all of my work.

~~~~

I have decided that I’m going to always have socks on the needles. I don’t know why I didn’t love them the first time I tried my hand at socks, but I love them now! I just want to learn how to do socks on one long circular (even though I do LOVE my DPN’s)…. hopefully I’ll be able to take the class at Yarns Down Under that’s coming up.

~~~~

On another project note, I’ve begun working on Folly again. I want to have it finished soon, even though the acrylic bothers my hands a bit (not as much as Red Heart, though, since I’m using Caron’s Simply Soft). I would like to give it to my mom for her birthday in April. So far I’ve ripped out the back by 15 inches to correct the decreases I did wrong. I know I could have made it work, but it wasn’t worth all the trouble since I’ve already got one front piece done. After I complete the back (which hopefully I will do tonight), I’ll only have one front piece, two sleeves, the collar, and some flowers to be pined on (I won’t be sewing them on like the photo in case my mom doesn’t like them).

Alright… that’s all for now… back to work I go!

Posted in Completed Projects

Odessa

Posted on by mslindz

Odessa is complete! I completed it in the car today and I’m really pleased with the results.

On me:

On me two – taken just after I finished it while I was in the car… someone got their fingers in the photo, but it looks like I’m the one doing the peace thing ;o)

Flat:

Close up of the sitches and beads:

I should note that the beads I used were 11/0 and not 6/0 like the pattern called for. I’m not exactly sure how I ended up with the 11/0’s because I swear I had bought 6/0’s from eBay, but after looking I realized they were listed as 11/0’s. Oh well… I think they look really nice and are a very subtle accent to the hat – even if they were a pain to get on the yarn!

Posted in Knit Ramblings

Create It

Posted on by mslindz

What do I do when I can’t find a pattern to match what I have pictured in my mind?

Make it myself.

Now, I haven’t done this much. I’ve modified patterns, changed them, based them from something and worked it out myself. But my own? Hardly.

But it’s time. Oh, it’s time. In my mind I have the perfect pattern for my Noro Kureyon yarn that I got in a swap. It’s a raglan style hoodie with a pocket in the front. I want a simple, basic pattern for something like this and I can’t seem to find one after a ton of Google searching. I wanted it to be somewhere between the Under the Hoodie pattern in Stitch ‘n Bitch: The Knitters Handbook and Janda from Knitty and Rogue (minus the cables). Easy right? (hahahaaa)

I like the bottom of Rogue and how it’s folded under – I’m not a fan of the ribbing at my waist. I like the way the pocket is constructed on Rogue – how you knit it as you’re going and don’t sew it on after. I like the hood construction of Under the Hoodie and how it crosses a bit in the front. I don’t like the way you knit two big squares and there’s NO shaping to the shoulders/arm area. I don’t know why I threw Janda in the mix because there’s nothing particular I love about it other than it has shaping in the shoulder/arm area and the hood is okay, too.

None of these patterns I love so completely that I want to use all my lovely Noro Kureyon yarn for it. So, I must create my own pattern.

I’m sort of using this tutorial from Knitty: Knit by Numbers. There’s also this one from Glampyre: Striped Raglan from the Bottom Up. I have the same gauge as Janda, so I’m loosely using the cast on amounts. I’m going to start at the bottom, with smaller needles and do the hem as per Rogue (well, sort of… mostly I’m winging it). I’ll do the pocket a lot like Rogue as well. The rest will be pretty basic and mostly winging it, but I think I’ll do okay.

I’m really quite excited about this! I think I’ll be doing it for the Stash-a-long.

Posted in Life

Knitting while asleep

Posted on by mslindz

Last night I had a dream that I was kitting Odessa and I was half way done with it.

Of course, I woke up to find that it hadn’t magically grown overnight. I’m not terribly dissapointed by this, though, because I love the Rowan Cashsoft DK that I’m using for this pattern.

I think I’m giving up on Liesel. It’s an okay pattern, but I get the feeling I’ll never wear it, so what’s the point in making it and not giving it to someone who’d love it or that I don’t love myself? I may just bind off and keep what I DID do of it. We’ll see. It’s so strange to only have one project that I’m really working on on the needles.

Maybe I should go back to knitting Folly for my mom. If I really go at it, I could be done by her birthday on April 10th. We’ll see….

Posted in Current Projects

Odessa Begins

Posted on by mslindz

Well, I finally got my beads for Odessa on Saturday and I started it tonight.

I’m thinking it’ll be a fairly easy project and I should have it done in no time at all :o)

Posted in Completed Projects

Mrs Beeton

Posted on by mslindz

I completed my Mrs Beetons today when I did the bind off on the second one.

I used Rowan Kidsilk Haze in color 580 and Rowan Cashsoft DK in color 506. I didn’t use as many beads as called for because I did the cast on differently and didn’t do the cast on bead thing every other stitch, but ever 3rd stitch (I read the intructions wrong). But I like the way the turned out anyhow! I think the beads I used were a bit big, so it worked out just fine :o)

They are SO soft! I really love them! My only issue, were I to do these over, is to do some extra decreases after joining the two bells to make them more snug on my small wrists.