May 2009 – Ms Lindz – My little corner of the internet

Another Decimal Setback, Knit Picks City Tweed & DPNs

Posted on May 21, 2009 by mslindz

Are you tired of hearing about Decimal yet? I am. I’m tired of looking at it too, but I want this sweater, so I keep knitting and frogging and knitting it again.

This morning I realized I’d screwed up the sleeve. I was working along with about 10 rows before joining it to the body when I realized the ribbing looked weird to me. It looked too short somehow. I pulled out the body and compared it side by side and I realized immediately what was wrong.

Do you see what’s wrong with this picture? The body is on the left, sleeve on the right.

If you can’t tell, it’s the ribbing. It’s supposed to be k1, p1 ribbing, but I did k2, p2 ribbing. Why? Who knows. Apparently I’m not so good at reading directions with this pattern and just do it without paying enough attention. I’ll be ripping sleeve attempt #3 out today. Maybe the 4th time is a charm? I feel rather dumb for making this mistake in the first place. I think I was just too tired or upset when I ripped it out last time and when I restarted it, I didn’t bother to look at the directions other then to see how many I needed to cast on. Oh well. I’m going to get this sweater done and it will be FANTASTIC.

Here’s what it looks like before I ripped it out. I definitely like the way it looks and fits, just need to fix that ribbing!

Recently, one of the lovely ladies in my knitting group placed a Knit Picks order and asked if I wanted/needed anything. I’d been putting off buying DPNs because I didn’t want to pay shipping for them and there wasn’t much else I was really interested in getting (not enough to get free shipping anyhow). I had been wanting to try out the new City Tweed, but only wanted a skein or two to try, so I decided to get two skeins of City Tweed DK in Morning Glory and 4 sets of DPNs (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5).

The City Tweed is pretty soft and the color is what I expected it to be from the photos on the website. I don’t know about you, but with Knit Picks, I’ve sometimes purchased colors that look QUITE different from the website, so I’m always pleased when it looks very similar to what I saw online. After knitting a number of pairs of socks with my US 1 nickel plated Knit Picks DPNs, I decided I really love them the best for socks, so now I have them in all the sizes I’d need (and two in 1’s because that’s the size I use most).

I don’t have progress on anything else to show today since I’ve only been working on Decimal. Hopefully the next time I talk about Decimal it will be to show the sleeves attached to the body!

Current Projects

$)&@^ Decimal, Mini Mochi Socks, KP Sock Club, and Needle Gauge

Posted on May 20, 2009 by mslindz

Do you recall what the Decimal sleeve looked like yesterday? No? Check it out here. I was all excited because I was nearly done with the decreases and almost finished with it. When I got home yesterday, I realized that the thing is simply too big. WAY too big. Big enough to fit around my body (almost) big. Seriously – it was HUGE. I decided I didn’t like it. In fact, I hated it and knew that I wouldn’t ever wear it with such gigantic sleeves. I took a deep breath and knew what I had to do. I took out my ball winder and frogged. Those keeping count will know that this is the second time I’ve frogged this sleeve. Ah well, I’d rather knit something that I’ll actually wear!

My first thought after frogging was that I’d just cast on a smaller number of stitches, but still make the sleeves 3/4 length. Then I thought more about it and decided that short sleeves might suit this very well, especially for wearing in the summer. So, that’s what I’m doing. I cast on the number of stitches I should have after the decreases and I’ll work the ribbing, 3 repeats of the bottom lace pattern, a few rows of the eyelet lace and then join it to the body. In my mind, I like how this looks, but we’ll see how I feel about it after I’ve knit it!

Here’s what the NEW Decimal sleeve looks like:

On the plus side, this shouldn’t take me very long to knit compared to the previous sleeve.

Today, as promised, I have a picture of my Mini Mochi socks!

If you look closely, you can see the green waste yarn where the heel will be. I’m guessing I could probably get a pair of socks out of one skein if I did the ribbing now, but since I have two, I’ll make the leg a bit longer first. I love working with this yarn and really like how it’s turning out. I’m thinking of doing a pair of striped socks with this yarn similar to the ones I’ve seen people do with Noro sock yarn. I think that would look nice. What do you think? Should I give it a go?

I do believe I’ve mentioned it here before, but in case I haven’t, I’m in a few sock clubs this year. Recently I received two packages from the Knitting Purls Indie Dyer Sock Club. One was the March shipment (it was late due to an error from the dyer and I offered to wait to receive my skein) and the other was from this month’s shipment. I’ve never knit with yarn from either of these dyers, so it should be interesting to see what I think. I’m always looking for new folks to purchase from and I especially love supporting independent dyers, so I knew this club would be perfect for me.

The March shipment was from Indie Dyer. The yarn is the Sock-it-to-Me base and the colorway is Flowers and Showers.

I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. Seems soft and I like the colors well enough, but we’ll see what I think once I’m working with it.

The May shipment was from Tempted Yarns. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Stacy’s yarns, so I was excited when this showed up in my mailbox! It’s the Good Grrl base and the colorway is First Spring Iris.

I love purple (one of my favorite colors), so it’s no surprise that I really like the color of the yarn. It’s quite soft and springy. I think it will knit up nicely. I haven’t decided on a pattern yet, but I’m looking forward to knitting this up!

One last thing to show you before I go is this fantastic needle gauge I got from KaratStix. It’s handmade from bamboo and absolutely beautiful. I love how it has the 1/2 sizes for smaller needles and goes from US sizes 0000 to 15 (also has mm sizes on it). Totally worth getting if you ask me. I’m always afraid I’m going to break my metal or plastic needle gauge and this is about 1/4″ thick, so no worries there.

Front

Back

It would make a lovely gift for a knitter, too! There’s other products they offer and they’ll even do custom orders (right now it’s a bit of a long wait, but TOTALLY worth it, IMO). The shipping was really fast, too!

That’s all I have for today. In the next few days I’ll be migrating my blog over to my own domain, so keep your eye out for a post about that in the near future (this is assuming things work the way I want them to, of course, but it’s coming SOON!). Happy crafting!

Grace’s Socks (FO), Juno Regina, Decimal, and Mini Mochi

Posted on May 19, 2009 by mslindz

There’s something I really love about plain stockinette socks. They call to me above any other projects I’m working on. I could have a deadline to knit something by and if I have plain stockinette socks on the needles, they will win out, no matter what. (Okay, that may not be 100% true, but it’s not often I’m on any kind of knitting deadline!) It’s no surprise that these socks took me hardly any time to knit. I liked knitting them, they called to me to knit them, and as luck would have it, I was on a deadline to get them done in time for Grace’s birthday!

Pattern: Grace’s Toe-up Socks (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: May 6, 2009
Completed: May 11, 2009
Yarn: Vesper Self-Striping Sock Yarn in the “Seashells by the Seashore” colorway
Needles: US 1 Knit Picks Nickel Plated DPN’s
Notes: Cast on 8 stitches, increased to 64, worked until it was long enough, did a short row heel, worked until it was time for ribbing, worked ribbing, then did the sewn in bind-off. Easy ;o)

Grace loved them and they FIT! I was excited because I wasn’t sure of her foot measurements, but I knew that her foot was probably about as wide as mine and that she wears a size smaller then me, so I knit the socks as if they were for me except making them about a half inch shorter. She loved them! I was worried she might not like them or they might not fit, so it was a relief that they fit and she thought they were great. The day I gave them to her, I was wearing my Sweet Water socks and Matt got a picture of our feet together. I’ll have to get it from him and share it with you all!

I have some sad news. Juno Regina is no more. Okay, I’m not that sad over it! I was really bored with knitting it and I don’t think that having regular Addi’s (instead of the Addi Lace needles) helped at all. I just didn’t want to do it anymore. So I frogged it and cast on for the Fountain Pen Shawl from the Spring 2009 Interweave Knits.

I had to get a pair of the Lace Addi’s because I simply couldn’t do the nupps with regular Addi’s. Okay, that’s a bit of a lie. I did manage to do them, but it was the biggest headache and when I finally got the first one done, I didn’t even want to THINK about doing the second one. One pair of Lace Addi’s later and I’m through the first chart and part way through the second chart. I think this will keep my interest enough that I won’t get bored and want to quit knitting it like I did with Juno Regina. The yarn is Malabrgio Lace and it’s very nice to work with, so that’s a bonus!

I’ve been working on Decimal off and on. At one point, I was a few rows from what I thought was being done with the sleeve, when I took a closer look at it. It didn’t seem right, so I re-read the pattern for what felt like the millionth time and realized I didn’t follow it correctly. I had only knit ONE row between the decrease rows instead of 7 (or 5 for the last few). Needless to say, I had a lot to rip out. I was NOT happy at all. I was so upset I didn’t even want to see it for a long, long time, but I decided it would get me nowhere to stick it in the UFO pile, so I ripped it out, picked up the stitches and started knitting the pattern the correct way. I’ve got 3 more decrease rows to do, then however many rows until it’s the right length and done. I’m over half way done, so I don’t think it will take that much longer. I’d like to have this sweater done before it’s too hot to even consider wearing it!

Last week I stopped at Yarns & Fabrications to get the Lace Addi’s and I saw that they had Mini Mochi! I knew it was coming soon, but wasn’t sure when, so it was a nice surprise to find they’d got it in already. Of course this meant that I had to take some home with me! Very pretty yarn and quite soft. I think the resulting socks will be warm and perfect for the cold months.

I did start a pair of plain socks (toe-up) with it already and I’m loving them. I got to the heel, did a short row heel, then rejoined to work the leg of the sock and realized that the color change was pretty dramatic. I didn’t like it at all, so I ripped back to before the heel, put in waste yarn and continued knitting on. This will be my first ever afterthought heel! Should be interesting. I’ll share pictures next time :o)

I have a few other things I want to show you, but I’ll save it for next time. This post is already long enough! Happy crafting!

Completed Projects, Current Projects

Leyburn FO, Loot from MDS&W, Swedish Fish and Kai-Mei

Posted on May 7, 2009 by mslindz

First I’ll show you Leyburn, my recent finished project!

Pattern: Leyburn (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: April 24, 2009
Completed: May 6, 2009
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Mediumweight in the “Dixie Girl” colorway
Needles: US 2 Brittany birch DPN’s
Notes: I changed where the increases for the leg were because I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize I was supposed to increase the top of the foot before I turned the heel, so I did all the leg increases after the heel. By the time I got to the second sock, I admit I was tired of the pattern. I like how they look, but the leg is a bit on the big side and a little loose.

Now for what you’re really here for (you can’t fool me! haha) – what I brought home with me from MDS&W!

Starting on the top row, left to right: 1. Socks That Rock Heavyweight in Fire on the Mountain, 2. STR Silky mill end, 3. STR mill end (reddish orange), 4. STR mill end (light blue), 5. STR mill end (shades of yellow), 6. Zauberball, 7 & 8. Creatively Dyed merino/seacell fiber (two pictures), 9. Gnomegarden Fiber merino/bfl/angelina, 10. Gale’s Art in Crayon Box merino, 11. Bonkers in Deep Sea superwash merino, 12. Cherry Tree Hill mill end, 13. Cherry Tree Hill Lime, 14. Tilli Tomas Plie in Midnight Borealis, 15. Brooks Farms Mas Acero

Mostly sock yarn! I wasn’t really looking for anything specific for yarn. I did want to get enough yarn to make a sweater and I think that the Brooks Farms yarn will end up being the February Lady Sweater. I knit a lot of socks, so sock yarn makes sense to buy, especially with the two sock KAL’s I’m in on Ravelry AND the Summer of Socks coming up! As for the fiber I bought, I just tried to get some things I haven’t used yet. I think I managed to do that. Merino/seacell, merino/bfl/angelina batt (first batt!), superwash merino and merino (I’ve used merino before, but those colors!! I had to have it).

I did end up changing the color of the fish on the Swedish Fish Socks I was working on. I went with the Fuchsia and I really like how it looks now!

“O hai, we are pretty Fuchsia colored fish!”

I also started the Kai-Mei socks for the Cookie A. KAL on Ravelry. It’s a little further along then this photo shows, but it’s k3, p3 ribbing for the first 5 inches, so just imagine it a little taller.

K3, P3, repeat FOREVER! hehehe

Since I knit a lot of socks, you won’t be too surprised that I cast on another pair, but I won’t be showing a photo of them until they’re gifted (sorry!). If you’re on Ravelry, though, you can see them on my project page.

Going back to work next week, so I’m sure my knitting time will go down a bit, but it will be nice to get back to work after being out for so long. Should be interesting, to say the least!

Next time I’ll show you some recent mail I received :o)

Fiber Events

Maryland Sheep & Wool

Posted on May 6, 2009 by mslindz

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to get to go to Maryland Sheep & Wool! Jessica was nice enough to let me stay with her for the weekend and go up for the fest. I met Jessica through Ravelry in the Vesper Yarn Lovers group and we got to know each other through there (and Twitter and Plurk). I’ve been able to get to know a lot of fantastic folks through Ravelry, Plurk, and Twitter – it’s been really fantastic!

Anyhow…

MDSW was great! We went on Saturday. There were a lot of people and it rained for a little while in the morning, but wasn’t bad the rest of the day. There was TONS of stuff I wanted to get, but I only had so much money to spend, so of course I couldn’t get everything I wanted. You can see all of my photos here, but here are a few of my favorites:

Baby goats

Baby bunnies

Teeswater Sheep

Brooks Farm booth

Golding Spindles

Golding Wheel

This photo just might be my favorite, though. While at the fest on Saturday, I got to meet Laura!! We became fast friends through Ravelry and it’s been really great getting to know her. I’m so glad we were able to finally meet and spend some time together at the fest and it looks like I’ll get even more time to hang out with her this fall at Rhinebeck – we’re already making plans :o)

Left to right: Me, Jessica and Laura

The drive to VA and back wasn’t bad at all. The way back I had to drive through a lot of rain, but the drive out was nice the entire way. I was sad that Jessica (a different one!) wasn’t able to make it out to MDSW this year, but I’m hoping we’ll get to meet at Rhinebeck. Send lots of good thoughts her way, if you can! She’s having surgery next week and I know any extra thoughts/prayers/whatever would be well appreciated. Surgery isn’t an easy thing to go through… all the nervousness, stress, and anxiety leading up to it, then the recovery. NOT easy!!

Speaking of which, I feel pretty good about my own surgery. I’m doing great. I have times where I’m more sore or have a little pain, but it’s nothing like before. Had my doctors appointment on Monday of this week and things went well. He said I’m doing quite well, which was good to hear! I go to the PT people tomorrow, then next week I’ll be back at work. I think the toughest part will be keeping up the walking, but since I have an hour lunch, I should have no problem getting in a walk then on the days I work.

So, MDSW was great! Totally want to do it again next year! Next time I’ll show you what came home with me and my finished Leyburn socks :o)

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