Month: August 2006

Posted in Knit Ramblings

I got a package! I got a package!!

Posted on by mslindz

I got my package in the mail from my Lace Swap Pal, Amy! I love everything :o)

Here’s what I got: some very pretty pastel purple JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk with a total of 1200 yards, two patterns – Mountain Peaks Shawl and Shetland Garden Farose Shawl (which I had recently been drooling over online – you read my mind!), a flower calendar for 2007, Ghiradelli chocolate (mmm toffee!!), chocolate covered apricots, stitch markers, and At Knit’s End: Meditations for Women who Knit too much by Stephanie Pear-McPhee (the one book I don’t have by her!). You did a wonderful job and I love everything! Thank you so much!! :o)

Here’s everything:

Here’s a close up of the stitch markers:

Posted in Knit Ramblings

A few things

Posted on by mslindz

Shelia arrived in the mail today with some goodies from my swap partner (Little Visitor Swap from Craftster.org). I was so excited! She came home in the cutest dress, the most awesome scrapbook (that was made from a book!), some souvenirs, and some treats.

Here’s everything:

Here’s a closer look at the scrapbook:

The scrapbook was made from the book Gulliver’s Travels. It has some of the photos in the book showing with some phrases that tie into the rest of the scrapbook (photos and places they went). It’s really neat and I have to say that I was going *squeeeeeeeeeeee* the entire time. I had the best swap partner! I have to admit that I’d been missing Fred and Ginger since I sent them back to Amy. I’m glad to have Shelia home and I can’t wait to see what my partner’s reaction is to the goodies and scrapbook I sent her. Hopefully she’ll like everything I did as much as I liked what she did for me. I am totally going to do this swap the next time it comes around! (Once I know she’s received, I’ll post photos of what I sent to her.)

I sent off the package to my Lace Swap Pal, but I won’t be posting anything about that until I know she’s gotten the package (just in case!). It’s got a few thousand miles to travel, but should arrive next week. I hope she likes everything I sent her!

I had an interview today and it looks pretty promising. I won’t hear back about it until mid-next week because there’s a lot going on in the store and she won’t be able to do my reference checks until Monday. I’m crossing my fingers for this one. Good vibes welcome ;o)

Posted in Current Projects, Knit Ramblings

Rogue – Undone

Posted on by mslindz

After close examination of Rouge this morning, I decided to rip back to the purl row just before changing needle sizes. I was off on my gauge by 1/4 of a stitch per inch which made me nearly 2 inches off overall in size widthwise. I knew it was a little tight when I took it off the needles and tried it on, but I didn’t think I was that much off. Going into a project like this, though, I’d much rather have it right. I don’t like things too tight on me and I actually felt that it was a little bit snug when I tried it on, so I know I will be happier with the end result now. I’ll be going from a US 6 to a US 7 which should put me right on gauge now. I don’t have a US 7 circular big enough for this project, so I’m going to have to pick one up tomorrow (thank goodness for 40% off coupons!).

I have started a new pair of socks – Baudelaire. I’m using a purple yarn that is slightly variegated in dark shades of purple (much like the yarn that I used for the Pomatomus socks). I’m not yet sure how it will work with the pattern, but I shall soon see. I don’t think the way it’s variegated will effect it much. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out the figure 8 cast on, so I tried a “Easy Toe” instead. It’s funny that it was right under the tutorial for the figure 8 cast on because after a number of failed attempts, I was just going to do a provisional cast on then pick up those stitches and continue the pattern as if I had done the figure 8 cast on and that’s exactly what the “Easy Toe” does. So much easier!

Icarus has seen some love today as well. The rows seem to take longer now, but I find myself paying more attention to this project now that I had to rip back. I like how the colors are turning out. Hopefully I won’t run out of yarn… I’m cutting it a little close since I have 880 yards total and the pattern requires 875 yards. I should know how things stands once I use up my first skein.

It’s race day (NASCAR Nextel Cup) today which means time in front of the tube knitting. I’m still a little miffed about what happened yesterday in the Busch race – Dale Earnhardt Jr. totally wrecked Carl Edwards (my favorite driver). Ohhhh the drama! We’ll see if any retaliation happens today. We’re already at lap 147 of 200 and nothing yet, but Earnhardt and Edwards have been riding next to one another most of the race so far. Back to the race and to knitting!

Posted in Completed Projects

Pomatomus

Posted on by mslindz

My Pomatomus socks are done! Actually, they were done Wednesday, but I was in NY and didn’t want to appear too strange to my soon-to-be in-laws by whipping out my camera and my laptop to blog it all after completing the second sock. I’m sure it was enough that I immediately put them on my feet despite the fact that it had to be 85 degrees F inside and pranced around the house. At least The Man is used to it!

I used some yarn that I got off of eBay from kbrece (hand dyed 100% merino wool) and I have to say that I loved working with this yarn. I loved it more than the Lorna’s Laces I used for my Jaywalkers. I am so happy that I have two more skeins to use and when those are gone, I will most likely buy more. Eventually, though, I would like to find some good sock yarn with 50% wool content at most. Anyhow… good yarn and a great color. I used US 1 needles for the cuff and US 2 for the rest. If I had actually worked on these, I would have had them done in less than two weeks, but I put them aside for the better part of a month and a half. This past week I took apart sock number 1 to lengthen it just a bit when I was almost done with the 3rd repeat of chart A for the top part of the second sock. If I hadn’t done that, I probably would have been done sooner, but I’m happier with the end result, so it’s worth it.

I finally got a photo of these outside and the color is quite accurate:

And here they are on my feet:

~~~~~

To prove that I have still been knitting other things, here’s some progress on Roge:

In two more rows I will be joining the top of the pocket to the body. I must admit that after I did all that work, I was fearful it wouldn’t fit me. I took it off the needles and tried it on. IT FITS! Yay! Progression continues. I must admit, though… I’m finding this an easy knit right now. Maybe it’ll be more difficult when I get to the hood.

Icarus looks pretty much the same since the last time I showed it. I knit a few rows only to find that somehow I really messed it up and had extra stitches where they shouldn’t be so I had to rip back without a lifeline. It worked out, though, so no worries. I’m in the second repeat of the first chart. I don’t really look at the chart much anymore – I just check it every now and then to know how much I’ve done.

It’s time to cast on for another pair of socks. I think I’m going to do Baudelaire with the purple yarn I have in my stash. Should prove to be an interesting challenge :o)

Posted in Knit Ramblings

Kool-aid

Posted on by mslindz

Tonight or tomorrow I’m going to try to kool-aid dye some white yarn I got in a swap ages ago just for this purpose. I’m thinking a greenish color for a scarf. I’m also going to try and felt a little swatch of the dyed yarn and see how it comes out. If it turns out well I’ll dye some more for a birthday or Christmas gift for someone.

Posted in Current Projects

Progress

Posted on by mslindz

After a bunch of contemplation, I have frogged a portion of the completed Pomatomus sock. I didn’t think to take photos of before I did it, but here’s what it currently looks like:

I frogged it because I just wasn’t happy with the final fit. It was a little bit too short lengthwise and I knew if I didn’t frog it, I wouldn’t be happy with it and thus never actually wear them. The photo came out really dark and no matter what I did, I couldn’t get it lighter. Strange. Here’s a close up of the stitch detail:

It’s a little bright and not that close of a representation of a the color of the yarn. It’s somewhere in between the two photos. I do love the color, though, and it really fits the pattern well. It reminds me of the ocean. I have started the second sock. I’m halfway through the third repeat of chart A for the cuff. Here’s both of them together:

I’ve really only been working on these in the car occasionally and at knitting group on Saturdays, so it’s no surprise that they aren’t done yet. I’m rather bored with the pattern (it was easy to memorize the chart) and it’s no longer a challenge, so it sits on the back burner. I don’t think it’ll take much longer until they are done, though. This would be my 3rd pair of socks and the first that actually fit me well enough for me to wear. The first pair I made were out of yarn that didn’t stretch much at all. I wanted some house socks, but they just aren’t comfortable. The second pair were Jaywalkers. I did love my Jaywalkers (color and pattern), but they are loose around my foot – I think they are too long lengthwise. Someday I might fix them, but who knows.

I took some progress photos of Rogue tonight as well. I started it earlier this week and so far I’m through part of the first chart, I’ve turned up the hem, and I’ve finished the pocket.

Here you can see the cable detail and the turned hem:

Rogue has taken up most of my knitting time lately so Icarus hasn’t seen much progress. I have worked a little on I Do and after a bit of freaking out about purl rows on the knit side (I thought it was very, very wrong!), it’s coming along well.

We’ll be going to upstate NY this week for a few days (leaving Wednesday and coming back Friday) and I’m thinking of making a set of Fetching while on the road. It’s hard to read charts while in the car (carsickness), so it’d be nice to have an easy project to work on. It’s either that or I’ll work on a scarf from One Skein. Need something to work on for the road that I don’t have to look at too much. Haven’t decided what other projects I’ll bring with me yet.

Besides all that, I’ve been working on the scrapbook for the Little Visitor’s swap. It’s coming along well and once I get the package in the mail (and my partner receives it), I’ll post photos of what I crafted for them and some of the photos I took while they were here. I’ve also got the yarn for my Lace Swap partner on the way and I think I’ve finally decided on a pattern (now just to track down where I can GET it!).

Still no job for me, which means more crafting time. This is good and bad. Would be great to have a job and more money (easier on the budget since we’re barely getting by right now), but things are stressful with the upcoming move sometime in December which makes crafting that much more important for my sanity. Well… back to crafting!

Posted in Knit Ramblings

More Projects

Posted on by mslindz

I think I have a serious case of startitus. I already have 5 projects on the needles (which I think is too much already) and I find myself wanting to start Fetching, Sharfik, another pair of socks….. the list goes on. The thing is, most of the projects on the needles aren’t “instant gratification” projects. Rogue is long term, Icarus is long term, even I Do is long term! Pomatomus isn’t so bad and should be done soon (I’m already done with one chart repeat for the cuff). I like little projects that take maybe a day or two to complete. I like felting things. All that yarn stars at me day after day wanting me to make something. Really, I don’t need another project, though!

Must… not… start… another… project….!

Posted in Knit Ramblings

Crafty things…

Posted on by mslindz

I’ve taken to embroidery. I’d done it long ago after I got into cross stitching, but all crafting for me stopped when I joined the Navy and after that I was pretty busy doing something all the time and never picked any of it back up. Then I got into knitting. Now I’m home too much and you can only do so much knitting in one day. Okay, I could probably do more, but ADD prevails and sometimes I get bored with only knitting all the time. So. Embroidery. I like it a lot, actually. And it’s a lot cheaper of a craft than knitting is!

Today I whipped up a new bag for myself. I’m not done with it yet, but I like how it’s coming out so far. My bobbin ran out of thread around the time my House came on, so I gave up for the night. Should take hardly any time to complete tomorrow. I want to add a pocket to the front and possibly inside as well. Heh, now I want to go finish it up! I just got an idea of something to embroider on the pocket, but I need to hit up Walmart and get some different colored thread. (I should maybe get some fabric there too, so I can make my own tea towels out of because I can’t seem to find any.)

More craftiness tomorrow :o)

Posted in Sewing

Embroidery

Posted on by mslindz

Here’s my first attempt at embroidery:

I did this on a piece of fabric that’s going to be used on the pocket of the tote bag I’m going to be making. I think it came out pretty good for my first attempt :o)

Posted in Current Projects

Icarus Progress

Posted on by mslindz

I’m nearly done with the first chart and it’s going well so far:

I think this may knit up faster than I though because this is only two days of knitting very little (I had to get the chart bigger – that small thing was killing my eyes). I like how it’s coming out and I think I finally found the right pattern for this yarn :o)

ETA: The yarn is Knit Picks Shimmer in Happy Dance colorway ;o)