Frogged – Ms Lindz – My little corner of the internet

Frogged and in Progress

Posted on October 25, 2011 by mslindz

The other day I realized that I don’t often mention projects again if I end up frogging them. Often I start projects, find they don’t work or I don’t like them or I’m no longer interested in working on it, frog them and move on. Since I’ve moved on, if I’ve blogged about that project at all, I forget about it completely as if it never happened and never think to mention it here. There are sometimes projects I don’t mention on the blog at all and never make it into my Ravelry notebook. Frogged projects have a story that doesn’t get told on my blog. I don’t really have a reason for this, so I think I’ll try to mention when projects get frogged or don’t work out.

Back in September I was working on a pair of Ambroso mittens. Even after trying to turn them into fingerless gloves, I just wasn’t happy with the way they looked at all, so I frogged them. RIP mittens/fingerless gloves!

After finishing Eadon, I frogged the first Seneca I knit and started one in a smaller size. As you know, I took a class at Rhinebeck about sweater fit (Fit-to-Flatter with Amy Herzog). When I got home, I looked at Seneca and contemplated it with my new knowledge. I decided that it needed to be frogged because it was going to end up a bit too big. Since this is already re-claimed sweater yarn, I figured I should put it to good use to knit up a sweater I can wear that won’t be too big. I’m on the lookout for just the right pattern for the yarn. I’m thinking it’ll be a pullover, but I’m open to suggestions if anyone has a favorite sweater pattern for a worsted weight yarn.

Since I last talked about what I currently have on the needles, I’ve cast on for a new sock project: Luz Mojito (Ravelry link). My first two attempts to knit socks from the CIS series didn’t work out, but these have! I finished the first sock on Sunday and I’m now through the leg of the second sock (not pictured below). Hoping to have them done by the end of the week. The yarn is MadelineTosh Sport in the colorway Terra. Makes a very nice, squishy sock!

Luz Mojito – Sock 1

Speaking of socks, since it is Socktober (though I haven’t been much of a participant this year), I finished another first sock. This is just a plain vanilla sock in Vesper colorway Venus In Furs. I like having a plain sock on the needles at all times in case I need an easy project for knitting in public. They often don’t progress very fast, but they are fun to knit up! I haven’t started the second one yet. I’m focusing on getting Luz Mojito done first.

Venus In Furs – Sock 1

What are you working on this week? Something new? An old WIP you’ve pulled out to complete?

I have a few other projects on the needles, but they haven’t seen much noticeable progress recently. Matt’s scarf did see some love this past weekend. No new photograph because it’s not all that exciting – just imagine a few inches added to this picture of it. I may focus on getting that scarf done next so Matt’s neck is warmed with handknit love this winter.

I’m still working on the Embossed Leaves socks and Ashby. They’ve been set aside for other projects at the moment. Oh if only there was more time in my day to spend knitting!

Current Projects

Jumper Cardigan and Cottage Garden

Posted on August 31, 2010 by mslindz

It’s amazing how quickly this summer has flown by, especially these last few weeks since I last posted. After all the shoulder problems, then out-of-nowhere back issues that suddenly disappeared as quickly as it had come, I decided I needed to get back to the exercises I’d been slacking off on for a number of months. After some talking with Matt about it, we joined a gym! It’s kept me fairly busy. I’ve been feeling sore and like I have less time to just be lazy, but overall I feel really great about going consistently for the last two and a half weeks that we’ve been members and like I’ve had more energy.

Around the same time we joined the gym, I saw a physical therapist about my shoulder problems. She gave me some exercises to do that I’ve kept up with and I haven’t had any problems since. I’ve been knitting the last couple weeks without much problem (a bit of soreness here and there, though that’s likely to the gym not a reoccurring shoulder issue!). I did start the Jumper Cardigan I talked about in my last post. I knit the right and left fronts and started the back.

Jumper Cardigan – Right and Left Fronts

Jumper Cardigan – Back

The color isn’t very accurate. The swatch from my last post is much more accurate, though possibly just a smidge brighter. Speaking of color… the color combination started bothering me after I’d finished the fronts. I started the back anyhow, but had this nagging “These colors are so bright…” thing in the back of my mind. The color combination is great and I do really like it, however it’s just not very “me” and something that I would get a lot of wear out of. On top of that, I measured (my gauge didn’t change with the washing/blocking of the swatch) and it was going have about 4″ of positive ease in the bust without the additional 1 to 1.5 inches of the button band.

I thought about it for a day, but ultimately decided it had to go. I am going to knit this pattern again and try a smaller gauge for adjusting the size. I think I’d really love this in a light and dark grey yarn combination. If anyone has any yarn recommendations in sport or fingering weight that come in a dark and light grey, please leave me a comment! I’m still undecided on what yarn to use, though I haven’t searched that much for one yet. I figure I should probably get going on my Rhinebeck sweater before I start planning the next one! 😉

Since the Jumper Cardigan was going to be my Rhinebeck sweater, I was left trying to figure out what to knit instead or if I was going to knit anything at all. It’s only a little over 6 weeks until Rhinebeck after all! I hemmed and hawed for a few days. I wasn’t feeling totally sold on knitting Cottage Garden. I kept thinking “Would I wear it? It’s pretty, but it’s a pullover. I’ve only knit one pullover and generally prefer cardigans! What if it’s too hot to wear? What if…” and on and on. Of course some of these concerns, like the weather could be for any sweater! I looked at patterns and I looked at my queue on Ravelry. I looked at my stash. I went to the LYS and contemplated over patterns and yarns they had. I went back to my queue and stash at home. I felt a lot of sweater project withdrawal. I thought “Who needs a stinkin’ Rhinebeck sweater anyway?!?”…

Then I settled on a sweater: Cottage Garden. What sealed it for me was pulling out the yarn (such a soft wool/silk blend), thinking about how I bought it last year at Rhinebeck, and thinking “It would be great to wear the sweater I knit from yarn I bought last year!” So, I knit, washed, and blocked a swatch to check my gauge. This yarn? Brooks Farm Solo Silk? Amazingly soft and wonderful knit up. It was done – this had to be the next project I knit and it needed to be my Rhinebeck sweater.

My gauge was a little off, so I did some math and decided to knit one size down (42″ size). When I first started and was about 3 rows in, with 250+ stitches around, I found I’d some how twisted it when I joined in the round! I was able to save the cast on and first row without dropping any stitches, though. Last night I finished the second picot edge and now working on the body. Here’s a crappy cell phone picture of my current progress:

Cottage Garden

I’ve been working on the Maelstrom socks and now up to the heel on the second sock. I had some time between frogging the Jumper Cardigan and starting Cottage garden to finish up the leg since I was being indecisive about what to do. It’s been put aside to knit Cottage garden for the most part, though I’ve picked it up a few times while watching TV. Minty Fresh may well get frogged. I hibernated it because I lost interest and I don’t really have any plans to go back to it for now. We’ll see. Still have the Jaywalker socks on the needles, but I think I’m going to wait until the circular from Maelstrom is free or I break down and buy some more Knit Picks circulars in sock sizes to continue work on them.

Recently I’ve been rather slacking in the photo department. Just haven’t felt inspired to take photos when it’s been so hot and miserable out and if I don’t do them outside, I’m stuck with crappy indoor lighting since someone has taken over our “photo room” and my yellow craft room, while lovely, isn’t great for taking accurately colored photos. Hoping to get in some photo taking time soon, though. Alright – time to get off my butt and head to the gym! Happy Crafting all 🙂

Current Projects

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!

Completed Projects, Current Projects

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!

Current Projects

Marlene Sock and Swedish Fish Socks (Help me pick a color!)

Posted on April 29, 2009 by mslindz

I forgot to mention this in my last post, but Marlene is no more. I did finish one sock, but I wasn’t in love with it. After thinking about it, I decided to rip it out.

RIP Marlene

I haven’t decided what I’ll do with the yarn yet, but I’m sure I’ll find another pattern to use it in. I’m glad I decided to rip it out because I really wasn’t looking forward to the second sock at all.

I did make some progress on the Swedish Fish socks, but now I’m not sure about the color of the fishies.

I’m considering changing it to one of these two:

Fuchsia

Campari Orange

What do you think? Should I change the fishies and if so, which should I change it to?

Okay, time to go to knitting! Later!

Completed Projects, Current Projects

On Birthdays and Yarn Things

Posted on October 3, 2008 by mslindz

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to meeeeeeee
Happy birthday to me

Yesterday was my birthday! I’m now 27 years old, but in most ways I don’t feel like it. I got lots of birthday wishes yesterday from friends and even people I didn’t know! I had to work yesterday, but Matt came and took me to lunch. We went to the new Chipotle across the street from where I work which is actually opening today, but they had a free food day yesterday in preparation for their grand opening today. They passed out flyers to get in and I didn’t get one. We went over anyway and Matt had brought a crown and a sash that said “Birthday Girl” for me to wear. The lady that was collecting the flyers said she couldn’t turn me away on my birthday and let us in even though we didn’t have a flyer. As I went through the line, all the workers were saying “Happy Birthday!” to me as were a bunch of customers that were there! It was pretty awesome even though I was a little shy about it.

When I got home, we watched some TV, then we made dinner – baked potatoes with chili, cheese and sour cream and veggies. It was delicious! After that we watched the VP debate, which was quite interesting. Matt definitely made my birthday feel extra special and the celebrating isn’t over yet! This Saturday we’re having lunch with some people from the knitting group and in the evening we’re planning on going to Dave & Buster’s to play some arcade games. Then on Sunday we’re going out to dinner with my family. Not sure where yet, but I’ll pick something good. I’ll be sure to be wearing my crown and sash for all the festivities!

As for knitting, I recently finished the Pomatomus socks I was knitting, so here’s the run down:

Pattern: Pomatomus by Cookie A.
Started: August 27, 2008
Completed: September 28, 2008
Yarn: Cascade Heritage Paints
Needles: US 1 bamboo DPNs (4 instead of 5 because I broke one while knitting the first sock!)
Notes: I would have had these done faster, but when it came time to knit the second sock, it became my “TV project” (the thing I knit while in front of the TV only) so it took a little bit longer than usual. Great pattern and I’m sure I’ll knit it again!

In other knitting… I started a cowl and ripped it out before I even got a picture of it. I was using Cascade Heritage red sock yarn I have, but the fabric it was making was just a bit too loose for me, so I ripped it out. Now I’m going to make socks with the yarn instead. After seeing the Twisted Flower Socks by Cookie A. on Ravelry in red, I just had to make them, so I’ll be starting those soon! Here’s the yarn I’m using:

I’m still knitting away on Juno Regina. I’m at the part where it’s just knitting the columns of the middle portion for a long stretch, so I doubt that will be very interesting to blog about anytime soon. I do love knitting with the Malabrigo lace, though. It’s so very soft and buttery. Speaking of Malabrigo lace, I ordered the yarn to make the crocheted Small Bob (if you’re on Ravelry, you may have see this). Since it doesn’t take up a lot of yarn and I’ll have a lot left over, I decided to make up Small Bob crochet kits. The last of the yarn I was waiting on arrived today. Here’s all of it:

Since I needed to meet an order limit for the natural colored Malabrigo lace yarn, I indulged and bought a skein of Silky Malabrigo for me for a cowl. I love it!

I’m still working up these little cute crocheted things. Here’s the latest one – Grim Reaper:

He still needs eyes, mouth and a scythe. (I’ll get to it this weekend!) The next one I will be making is the Spartan from the same book as the Grim Reaper (Creepy Cute Crochet).

Recently, I saw the cutest Hello Kitty crochet book. I almost didn’t try to acquire it because it’s in Japanese, but it does have charts and I think I’m finally figuring out the crochet chart thing, so I went for it. I mean COME ON, it’s a Hello Kitty book! How could I not have it? So, I messaged this Etsy seller to see if she could obtain a copy of the book for me. She lives in Japan and agreed to get me a copy. I’ve been impatiently waiting for it to arrive in the mail and when I got home yesterday, there it was waiting for me!

I can’t wait to make something out of it!

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