You can see what I did most of yesterday--I didn't feel too hot, so skipped all social obligations (except one, will mention later) to just knit or do knitting-related activities. And I vowed to finish those darned Redwood Pagoda Lace socks. I got them done before the World Series was over. And since they are "redwood" it's like I knitted Red Socks for the Red Sox. (I thought both teams were very good, though.) I like my idea of recording where I was and what I was doing when I finish a pair of socks. In any case, these are interesting, mainly in that I think my gauge changed from one sock to the other. The second one fits more comfortably and is longer, even though they have the same number of pattern repeats. Of course, knowing how often I messed up the pattern, sock #1 could simply have more mistakes in it. I really should do this pattern again in semi-solid or solid yarn. But, I love the colors and will enjoy wearing a decent pair of brown socks, at last.
Yes, I did get a little done on the other projects. Shedir is bigger and the lace scarf is well into the easy part of the main section. The Former Tangled Mess is very pretty.
Much of what I did over the weekend, though, was thinking, planning, and recording. I took pictures of the Rosebud Shawl, which is stalled at the moment, and of an old feather-and-fan baby afghan I made for Tuba Boy in 1991. Yowee it was made out of extra acrylic, but it held up well.
Then I took a deep breath, and since I have new lighting in the media room and the camera suddenly likes batteries, I began to photograph my commercial sock yarn balls. I just counted, and I photographed 36 skeins of sock yarn, predominantly Opal, Trekking , Regia, Meilenweit, and Austerman Step. Goodness. I got the info on all the yarn in my decorative "bowl o' sock yarn" plus the top layer of the "big basket o' sock yarn." This means there are probably at least 20 MORE balls of yarn in the bottom of that basket. Ai yi yi.
Anyone who's glanced at what I already uploaded to Ravelry (69 yarns so far) knows that most of my stash is sock yarn (with lace a distant but substantial second). I wonder if I will break a hundred skeins of sock yarn yet to be knitted, once I have them all up? (Noting that many of them are 50 gram balls, so a lot of the colorways have two skeins...yep, I may hit it.)
It will take me a while to edit all the photos, so just a bit of it went up today. Whee, something to look forward to. I am sure my poor parents are sick of going to my Flickr pages looking for pix of their grandchildren, only to see endless balls of yarn. I promise, it's almost over, and soon just a few will go up, as I buy stuff. And I am slowing down. Really.
I DO knit socks most of the time, but also other stuff. So I doubt I'll ever get to all this. That's OK, because as I have declared before, it's a collection, not a stash. Some of the yarns are valuable collector's items (like the test skeins and limited editions), and other are just beautiful to behold. So I declare that I feel no guilt about the extent of my sock yarn stash. It's an investment that may well increase in value, like other people's trading cards or Hummel figurines. Yeah.
Long Live My Sock Yarn Stash! I just ordered three more skeins from that enabling Loopy Ewe!
My personal news is that my wonderful Life Partner Man Lee bought me an engagement ring yesterday, with a genuine practically colorless practically flawless diamond in it. I can't wait to pick it up. I was careful to choose a setting that wouldn't snag on yarn too much. (I am old fashioned and got yellow gold, because I LIKE it, and a small dainty one, not a big retro style one--this should be in style the rest of my life, I hope.)
Showing posts with label pagoda lace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pagoda lace. Show all posts
Monday, October 29, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
You Don't Know the Answer to This, Do You?
You see, yesterday I found these pictures of me in July 2005, wearing a silk/wool poncho I had made and was quite proud of. I should have been--that's Alchemy Yarns of Transformation Silk/Wool expensiveness you see there, and lots of it. I don't have any really good photos of that item, so I cropped some conference photos and used them (in this picture I am actually teaching Tuba Boy, my son, how to knit, and Edie Eckman, who wrote the Crochet Answer Book is right behind him!).
The deal is that the poncho is slipping off my shoulder. That irritates me. One side stays up, because it has a jaunty attached scarf on it, but the other side falls down. Practically every garment I knit falls off my shoulders. The Juliet sweater, the Cindy sweater, Althea (my Hempathy top), my ribbon shrug...the list goes on. So my question is: am I just knitting the wrong things or do I have defective, overly sloping shoulders? Am I ... gasp ... deformed??
No, I don't think I am deformed, perhaps just poor of posture. But I do hope that the lone button on Mr. Greenjeans will keep the darned thing ON me. And in case you were wondering, I did get to work on him some last night, and got at least halfway through arm #2. I may well have me a cardigan by Monday! I sure hope so.
I may get to start new socks, too. I am turning the heel on Redwood Pagoda Lace socks and they are looking good. It's interesting that no one has said anything about my pictures of the first sock (perhaps because it is on a scuzzy tour bus in glaring light), but everyone who sees the socks in person gets all excited about them. Expert knitters, people who want to learn to make socks, and even non-knitters comment on both the yarn and the pattern. So, while not the Sock of My Dreams with respect to pattern/yarn compatibility, I know it will be a good one that people will enjoy seeing me wear--and the yarn feels great. (There is more interesting new sock yarn in candy corn and neopolitan ice cream colors over at Knitivity if you want to take a look, by the way.)
Jody and I are having a big debate as to whether I should wear a fitted top, a shrug or a shawl for the wedding item. She loves shawls and thinks a shawl pin will save me from the dreaded dropping of the shawl on the ground while hugging a zillion people event, which I foresee if I wore one of those. Opinions welcome. And I am posting more and more options on my wedding project blog entry.
The deal is that the poncho is slipping off my shoulder. That irritates me. One side stays up, because it has a jaunty attached scarf on it, but the other side falls down. Practically every garment I knit falls off my shoulders. The Juliet sweater, the Cindy sweater, Althea (my Hempathy top), my ribbon shrug...the list goes on. So my question is: am I just knitting the wrong things or do I have defective, overly sloping shoulders? Am I ... gasp ... deformed??
No, I don't think I am deformed, perhaps just poor of posture. But I do hope that the lone button on Mr. Greenjeans will keep the darned thing ON me. And in case you were wondering, I did get to work on him some last night, and got at least halfway through arm #2. I may well have me a cardigan by Monday! I sure hope so.
I may get to start new socks, too. I am turning the heel on Redwood Pagoda Lace socks and they are looking good. It's interesting that no one has said anything about my pictures of the first sock (perhaps because it is on a scuzzy tour bus in glaring light), but everyone who sees the socks in person gets all excited about them. Expert knitters, people who want to learn to make socks, and even non-knitters comment on both the yarn and the pattern. So, while not the Sock of My Dreams with respect to pattern/yarn compatibility, I know it will be a good one that people will enjoy seeing me wear--and the yarn feels great. (There is more interesting new sock yarn in candy corn and neopolitan ice cream colors over at Knitivity if you want to take a look, by the way.)
Jody and I are having a big debate as to whether I should wear a fitted top, a shrug or a shawl for the wedding item. She loves shawls and thinks a shawl pin will save me from the dreaded dropping of the shawl on the ground while hugging a zillion people event, which I foresee if I wore one of those. Opinions welcome. And I am posting more and more options on my wedding project blog entry.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Knitting Ups and Downs
It was a very long weekend. And much knitting was done, though not all that much to show for it. Sigh. Took a major dip in the scummy old frog pond...
But, in good news, here is the Redwood Pagoda Lace sock #1 in Knitivity Redwood colored sock yarn, fresh off the needles in a rather scuzzy tour bus. I spent over 24 hours with the high school band on a trip to Arlington, Texas for a competition. I would have gotten a lot more knitting done if both the trip up and the trip back hadn't been during normal sleeping hours. I finished the sock while the rest of the folks were out procuring dinner in a locale full of preferred vendors: fast food, pizza and Starbucks. I stayed in and breathed diesel fumes and finished the sock.
I worked and worked on Mr. Greenjeans in red during the many hours we spent in a church rec hall between the preliminaries and finals of the competition. I made almost an entire sleeve but then realized that, sigh, I was making the size XL sleeve, not the L, and I would never hit 60 stitches before my arm length was reached at the rate I was decreasing. So, yesterday in my sleep deprived fog, I frogged the entire sleeve and redid it. Perhaps this time I decreased too briskly but it looks OK and I got down to where I want to start the ribbed border for the cuff. But it sure felt bad to re-do the same knitting twice. I did enjoy crafting with other band mothers, though, so I had good camaraderie with the crocheters and beaders who were also chaperoning.
I have nifty new yarn to post, perhaps tomorrow, thanks to the latest Loopy Ewe sneak-up. A couple of very interesting ones! And KnitPicks sent me a replacement #4 pair of tips for my Harmony set (you may recall, one original didn't screw in properly), so I now have one bonus 4. Good, I like that size. So, all is not lost--I just feel like I lost some productivity (yes, knitting is a process, and I should REJOICE that I get to knit twice with that nice Cascade 220, yup). But I have new things I want to knit!
Not much knitting time today, but tomorrow I hope to get on to sleeve #2 and more done on sock #2.
I hope you all had better knitting weekends than I did!
But, in good news, here is the Redwood Pagoda Lace sock #1 in Knitivity Redwood colored sock yarn, fresh off the needles in a rather scuzzy tour bus. I spent over 24 hours with the high school band on a trip to Arlington, Texas for a competition. I would have gotten a lot more knitting done if both the trip up and the trip back hadn't been during normal sleeping hours. I finished the sock while the rest of the folks were out procuring dinner in a locale full of preferred vendors: fast food, pizza and Starbucks. I stayed in and breathed diesel fumes and finished the sock.
I worked and worked on Mr. Greenjeans in red during the many hours we spent in a church rec hall between the preliminaries and finals of the competition. I made almost an entire sleeve but then realized that, sigh, I was making the size XL sleeve, not the L, and I would never hit 60 stitches before my arm length was reached at the rate I was decreasing. So, yesterday in my sleep deprived fog, I frogged the entire sleeve and redid it. Perhaps this time I decreased too briskly but it looks OK and I got down to where I want to start the ribbed border for the cuff. But it sure felt bad to re-do the same knitting twice. I did enjoy crafting with other band mothers, though, so I had good camaraderie with the crocheters and beaders who were also chaperoning.
I have nifty new yarn to post, perhaps tomorrow, thanks to the latest Loopy Ewe sneak-up. A couple of very interesting ones! And KnitPicks sent me a replacement #4 pair of tips for my Harmony set (you may recall, one original didn't screw in properly), so I now have one bonus 4. Good, I like that size. So, all is not lost--I just feel like I lost some productivity (yes, knitting is a process, and I should REJOICE that I get to knit twice with that nice Cascade 220, yup). But I have new things I want to knit!
Not much knitting time today, but tomorrow I hope to get on to sleeve #2 and more done on sock #2.
I hope you all had better knitting weekends than I did!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
I Had Blog Ennui
I haven't written anything in a couple of days, because nothing knitting-wise has really gotten me all excited. And I recently read about this very useful concept of blogging without obligation. The fellow who thought it up has a great point--it's a good idea to leave my blog right NOW and click that link. His main point is that you should blog because you have something to say, not just to make sure you get hits, inspire new subscribers or whatnot. I agree with that, so even though my hits have taken a tumble, I didn't write for a couple of days when I didn't get much knitting done and what I did was on the same old projects.
My projects are just fine, thank you. None of them are moving along very briskly, due to that pesky old "real life" getting in the way, but Mr. Greenjeans is over halfway through the cable section, and Pagoda Lace Sock #1 has at least grown a bit. The Knitivity sock yarn is coming out very soft--feels great--but it's a bit "splitty" and that makes it hard to re-do when I make a mistake in the lace. I ordered some ShibuiKnits semi-solid yarn from the good ole Loopy Ewe that I may try this pattern on again.
Speaking of yarn, I will have to photograph my two newest preciouses. One's a skein of 700 yards of fingering weight yarn from Knitivity in a collection of denim shades. I was going to make my stepmom her holiday gift from it, but then I saw this Schaeffer Anne in shades of turquoise that will look better in the pattern I chose (one of the rectangular shawls in Victorian Lace Today). I am going to make that really simple triangle shawl from VLT out of the denim for my own use.
I also got my first knittable sample from Color My Yarn Crazy, my friend Jody's soon-to-launch yarn biz (no, there's nothing much about it on the blog). It is an almost-indescribable color in sock yarn of my favorite highly twisted type. Both Lee and Beccano declared the color looks like a chocolate cherry cake, so I hope that helps. It is really a very dark mottled orange. My friend Saranda labeled it Rust. Someone nameless called it "poop brown" but if that is the case, it is VERY pretty poop! I will use it to make the frogged Diamond Waffle pattern. It will look good in this semi-solid.
At the LYS yesterday I purchased some Calmer in a coral color to make the Shedir (warning, PDF link) hat (photo is from a nice site with lots of chemo caps on it) for an acquaintance with breast cancer. I'll make that on the bus for the endlessly long band trip this weekend (where I have some crazed idea that I will finish ALL my WIPs). When I got the Calmer yarn and said I was making a cabled hat, Jody said, "Oh, you're making Shedir." My-o-my that woman has an encyclopedic memory for knitting pattern names! I was sure glad she made it to the shop, because talking to her and a couple other nice and friendly knitters really made a crummy day better.
I guess I have written enough that I don't have to go on and on about the weird patterns in the Holiday Vogue Knitting. At least there were 2-3 a person could wear in public without being laughed at or looking like a sausage. I must be too, too, old.
My projects are just fine, thank you. None of them are moving along very briskly, due to that pesky old "real life" getting in the way, but Mr. Greenjeans is over halfway through the cable section, and Pagoda Lace Sock #1 has at least grown a bit. The Knitivity sock yarn is coming out very soft--feels great--but it's a bit "splitty" and that makes it hard to re-do when I make a mistake in the lace. I ordered some ShibuiKnits semi-solid yarn from the good ole Loopy Ewe that I may try this pattern on again.
Speaking of yarn, I will have to photograph my two newest preciouses. One's a skein of 700 yards of fingering weight yarn from Knitivity in a collection of denim shades. I was going to make my stepmom her holiday gift from it, but then I saw this Schaeffer Anne in shades of turquoise that will look better in the pattern I chose (one of the rectangular shawls in Victorian Lace Today). I am going to make that really simple triangle shawl from VLT out of the denim for my own use.
I also got my first knittable sample from Color My Yarn Crazy, my friend Jody's soon-to-launch yarn biz (no, there's nothing much about it on the blog). It is an almost-indescribable color in sock yarn of my favorite highly twisted type. Both Lee and Beccano declared the color looks like a chocolate cherry cake, so I hope that helps. It is really a very dark mottled orange. My friend Saranda labeled it Rust. Someone nameless called it "poop brown" but if that is the case, it is VERY pretty poop! I will use it to make the frogged Diamond Waffle pattern. It will look good in this semi-solid.
At the LYS yesterday I purchased some Calmer in a coral color to make the Shedir (warning, PDF link) hat (photo is from a nice site with lots of chemo caps on it) for an acquaintance with breast cancer. I'll make that on the bus for the endlessly long band trip this weekend (where I have some crazed idea that I will finish ALL my WIPs). When I got the Calmer yarn and said I was making a cabled hat, Jody said, "Oh, you're making Shedir." My-o-my that woman has an encyclopedic memory for knitting pattern names! I was sure glad she made it to the shop, because talking to her and a couple other nice and friendly knitters really made a crummy day better.
I guess I have written enough that I don't have to go on and on about the weird patterns in the Holiday Vogue Knitting. At least there were 2-3 a person could wear in public without being laughed at or looking like a sausage. I must be too, too, old.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Progress Report B: Redwood Pagoda Lace Socks
I did get some progress made on my socks, though not much, thanks to concentrating on the cardigan. Here you see the Redwood Pagoda Lace Sock, in progress, along with some cute li'l flowers in the grass. I managed to finish the heel last night, without having to re-do it endless times or anything! And I am impressed that I managed to end on a complete repeat, with the foot fitting just fine!
It's hard to see the lace in this view, but there's another picture on Flickr, if you want to see the top view. I wanted to show my odd little gusset, that I put two stitches inward, just to be different..
Other knitting news...I didn't get to go on the Hill Country Yarn Crawl over the weekend, due to so many other things going on, but I did show up at the LYS at my usual time, and help out people who came in with questions, so the other staff could sell yarn. I felt good that I helped a lady who misunderstood how YOs worked, so her lovely afghan can grow up nice and pretty. I felt bad that I forgot to bring in the damaged afghan I was going to return to its owner, but felt better once we all decided to try to fix it if she could find the original yarn (she might be able to). Later I felt bad that I left the shop just before one of my students who needed my help showed up and ended up very confused, but I stayed later than I'd originally intended to, anyway--really had to go tend to the family (they are supposed to be my priority ya know!). I hope to help that lady today, since we missed each other yesterday, too.
I also would have sold a scarf pattern, but the LYS had sold all of them and I didn't know. So, I will print more of those and email the lady a copy for herself. I need to decide whether I want to sell that pattern in the future or offer it for free from the blog. Thinking.
Another thing is that I am thinking hard about a pair of thematic socks I have designed in my head, chosen yarn for, and want to make next, so maybe I better knit harder on these socks. I will do better if my old friend who works in the same building I do doesn't ask me to join him at lunch too many times this week--I end up talking to him and not knitting (hmph, actually paying attention to the person I am talking to...what's with that?). Perhaps I will also get to those over the weekend of bus knitting.
It's hard to see the lace in this view, but there's another picture on Flickr, if you want to see the top view. I wanted to show my odd little gusset, that I put two stitches inward, just to be different..
Other knitting news...I didn't get to go on the Hill Country Yarn Crawl over the weekend, due to so many other things going on, but I did show up at the LYS at my usual time, and help out people who came in with questions, so the other staff could sell yarn. I felt good that I helped a lady who misunderstood how YOs worked, so her lovely afghan can grow up nice and pretty. I felt bad that I forgot to bring in the damaged afghan I was going to return to its owner, but felt better once we all decided to try to fix it if she could find the original yarn (she might be able to). Later I felt bad that I left the shop just before one of my students who needed my help showed up and ended up very confused, but I stayed later than I'd originally intended to, anyway--really had to go tend to the family (they are supposed to be my priority ya know!). I hope to help that lady today, since we missed each other yesterday, too.
I also would have sold a scarf pattern, but the LYS had sold all of them and I didn't know. So, I will print more of those and email the lady a copy for herself. I need to decide whether I want to sell that pattern in the future or offer it for free from the blog. Thinking.
Another thing is that I am thinking hard about a pair of thematic socks I have designed in my head, chosen yarn for, and want to make next, so maybe I better knit harder on these socks. I will do better if my old friend who works in the same building I do doesn't ask me to join him at lunch too many times this week--I end up talking to him and not knitting (hmph, actually paying attention to the person I am talking to...what's with that?). Perhaps I will also get to those over the weekend of bus knitting.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Completed Surplice Top, etc.
The hated and tedious sewing up is finally complete, so here is the surplice top, before blocking (hence wavy border and lace sections).
As a reminder, this pattern is from Nashua Handknits North Designer Collection #4 and was made in the yarn called for, Natural Focus Ecologie Cotton, in color logwood.
It actually fits, though is low cut enough that I will probably wear it with a cami in public.The color is a bit too close to my skin color to be very flattering, too. But, it's nice and light and for once, not too big. There is a photo of me in it on Flickr and Ravelry, but it's so unflattering that I decided to not put it on my blog. Maybe I'll get another photo once the top is blocked.
At least it is NOT too big and DOES fit. I am proud.
I think Mr. Greenjeans in Red (next project, top down cardigan) will fit fine. I somehow am getting a smaller gauge than usual by going down two sizes, so I will just make the increase section longer and make sure there are the right number of stitches when it comes time to do the cable rib bottom. On that one, I am almost through the yoke on that one, thanks to having a "sick day" yesterday and just sitting on the couch sleeping and knitting. I'll have a picture tomorrow--the black/red color is beautiful.
As for socks, I got halfway up the foot on Diamond Waffle and decided the Knitivity yarn in Redwood did not like it. Too busy a pattern and too busy a yarn. So, the yarn is staying and I am trying Pagoda Lace by the usual Wendy Johnson. I am still on the toe, because I mostly worked on the Greenjeans sweater after frogging the Diamond Waffle sock.
I have decided that the purple-ish J. KnitsNew Jersey yarn would be a better choice for Diamond Waffle. It is more of a semi solid, and I do not have many of those right now. Oh, if only I knew someone dyeing up some semi-solids that I could make socks out of. Oh wait, supposedly I do. DYE SOME YARN, Jody!
I have 34 projects up on Ravelry, and 16 stashed yarns. Lots of typing and photographing still left to do, but I already have found the site handy for looking up official names of patterns and yarns!
As a reminder, this pattern is from Nashua Handknits North Designer Collection #4 and was made in the yarn called for, Natural Focus Ecologie Cotton, in color logwood.
It actually fits, though is low cut enough that I will probably wear it with a cami in public.The color is a bit too close to my skin color to be very flattering, too. But, it's nice and light and for once, not too big. There is a photo of me in it on Flickr and Ravelry, but it's so unflattering that I decided to not put it on my blog. Maybe I'll get another photo once the top is blocked.
At least it is NOT too big and DOES fit. I am proud.
I think Mr. Greenjeans in Red (next project, top down cardigan) will fit fine. I somehow am getting a smaller gauge than usual by going down two sizes, so I will just make the increase section longer and make sure there are the right number of stitches when it comes time to do the cable rib bottom. On that one, I am almost through the yoke on that one, thanks to having a "sick day" yesterday and just sitting on the couch sleeping and knitting. I'll have a picture tomorrow--the black/red color is beautiful.
As for socks, I got halfway up the foot on Diamond Waffle and decided the Knitivity yarn in Redwood did not like it. Too busy a pattern and too busy a yarn. So, the yarn is staying and I am trying Pagoda Lace by the usual Wendy Johnson. I am still on the toe, because I mostly worked on the Greenjeans sweater after frogging the Diamond Waffle sock.
I have decided that the purple-ish J. KnitsNew Jersey yarn would be a better choice for Diamond Waffle. It is more of a semi solid, and I do not have many of those right now. Oh, if only I knew someone dyeing up some semi-solids that I could make socks out of. Oh wait, supposedly I do. DYE SOME YARN, Jody!
I have 34 projects up on Ravelry, and 16 stashed yarns. Lots of typing and photographing still left to do, but I already have found the site handy for looking up official names of patterns and yarns!
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